3rd Sunday in Lent - March 7, 2010 - Sunday, March 07, 2010

Father Greg's Reflection

Dear Family of Immaculate Heart of Mary,

When I was a child, being the second oldest of my siblings, I had the wonderful opportunity of welcoming a new member into my family, five times! Every time my Mom and Dad had a new baby, I remember both the excitement and the challenge of making room for another child in our home. It was a challenge because it meant that all of us had to change our routine, we had to move over a little, and we had to find a way to accommodate the needs of a new member.

You all may have noticed that I always refer to Immaculate Heart as a family. As a parish family, we also must welcome our newest members. Parishes are living, growing, thriving communities of people. They are never static and closed, at least not if they truly are communities formed and shaped by the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Because we always open our doors to new members, we too, must accommodate and welcome many new faces. Sometimes it’s not easy. We become comfortable with the old friends we know. We recognize the familiar families, some who have prayed with us for a lifetime. We don’t always want to invite or embrace new faces. Who are these strangers among us? Why are they changing everything? Why are they sitting in MY pew? Sound familiar? It certainly happens and sometimes it disrupts the whole comfortable world we want to surround ourselves in. Yet, it is so important. Without these new members and faces we risk becoming a stagnant and fiercely unchanging or elite group of people. We called this a clique. In a faith that teaches that God is always new and that we must look for Him to reveal Himself in every new and life-giving way, this is very dangerous. In a closed and rigid world, we risk never truly seeing the unbelievably new and exciting ways of God.

Lent is a journey in which we are challenged to encounter God in new ways. One of the most perfect ways we do this is through the people who we call Catechumens or Candidates. Those who are seeking to join our faith through baptism or their profession of faith. These members are called the Elect. They are “elected” to become new members of our communities thus blessing us with new faces, new enthusiasm and new found joy; they are the yeast in the Body of Christ, making us ever new and growing.

Last weekend at 10:30 mass we celebrated the Rite of Election. This is a beautiful ritual where these members are introduced to us, then in a very formal way are invited to sign their names in the Book of the Elect. This symbolically shows they are now counted among God’s chosen ones, an invitation extended to all but accepted by few. Finally, they were formally “sent” to the cathedral in Denver to meet Archbishop Chaput who represents the unity of the Church. They joined thousands of others who will be received into the Catholic Church at Easter!

Today, I believe each of us have a God-given responsibility to embrace and welcome our newest members. We do this by praying for them during the scrutines these next few weeks and joining them at the Easter Vigil at 3:30 am on Easter Sunday! I said it’s not always easy. Our parish will never be the same. These newest members may someday take over leadership in our parish family. They will have different ideas and new insights. They will not always want to do everything the same as it’s always been done, and guess what, they may even sit in YOUR pew! But they are welcomed here and they are essential to the life of our parish family, for they are a sign of hope to all of us! Lent is a new “springtime” that is the meaning of Lent, and our new members are certainly a sign of springtime, and therefore our willingness to welcome them and embrace them is a perfect opportunity for us to continue on the long road to Lent in a very meaningful way!

In Jesus, Fr. Greg

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2nd Sunday in Lent - Saturday, February 28, 2010 - Monday, March 01, 2010

Father Greg's Reflection

Dear Family of Immaculate Heart of Mary,

As we continue down the long road of Lent, I have been wondering what truly keeps people from changing their personal habits in order to become more fully human and more fully alive, which is truly the only reason for making the Lenten journey. It is always amazing to me how easily we human beings become creatures of habit! Maybe it’s because we just get tired. Maybe it’s because we become complacent. Often I believe it’s because we are not sure what’s in it for us or we just plain feel we don’t really need to change. Lent, however, truly is all about our willingness to change. It’s not easy. After all, God had to sacrifice His only Son in order to truly inspire us humans to make the changes we need just to overcome our sin. We are stubborn people. God knew it when He created us in freedom. He allowed us our freedom in order to allow us to freely choose Him and, thus, to choose life. Our freedom, therefore, makes it up to us to make changes in our own lives. God wants us to freely choose Him. God wants us to freely overcome our sinful nature. God wants us to freely grow in holiness. The only problem is, we don’t always want to!

The first thing we have to do in order to make necessary and life-giving changes, is we must make the decision to start. Lent is a perfect moment to start! Starting often is the hardest part of all in making life-giving changes. For instance, one of the reasons people don’t exercise, or they gain too much weight, or they fall into bad habits they can’t overcome is because they can’t find a perfect moment to start; Lent is the perfect moment. In fasting, praying, and almsgiving, the Church invites us to begin with the little things we need in order to discipline our bodies, minds and spirits. If we start on Ash Wednesday and practice every Friday, disciplining our appetites by not eating meat or our over-indulgence by “giving up” something, we learn techniques to make life changes. Then we are invited to begin to “let go” of our dependence on earthly things, and especially money, by giving it away in our practice of almsgiving or tithing. Finally, we learn that we cannot do it alone, and the Church rightfully reminds us that we can depend on God and He will supply us the necessary grace and strength we need, if we pray. All we really have to do is make the decision that now is the time to begin!

But it can’t stop with that. Obviously, once we begin a new habit, or a new discipline, we must be internally motivated to keep going. That’s where knowing why we need it, and what it does for us, provides us with that essential lasting motivation. My father smoked for sixty years. Once in awhile he would attempt to quit and most of the time he found Lent a good time to “start” not smoking. However, he always failed and immediately began smoking again once Lent was over. Then one year he was diagnosed with kidney cancer and bladder cancer. I will never forget the day he came home and told my mom. After telling her he stepped outside, smoked his last cigarette, looked at it, threw it down and stepped on it. He never looked back and hasn’t smoked for nearly five years! Why? Because he found his motivation; he wanted to live. Knowing his cancer was caused from smoking, he discovered the enemy, and it was not easy, but with strong motivation he conquered that enemy.

My father had known for years smoking was harmful. Everyone told him. However, not until he discovered his own interior motivation could he ever stop. Likewise, Fr. Matt and I, and the entire Church can encourage people to make changes which will bring them life. However, not until we look deep within and truly find our own interior motivations will these changes ever take place. Lent is a great beginning. However, it’s more then just external discipline. It also demands that we search deep within and discover if we truly have what it takes to make the journey to Calvary in order to discover a deeper and more life-giving relationship with the Son of God. That in itself should motivate us to do whatever is necessary to turn away from sin and change our lives!

In Jesus , Fr. Greg

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Congratulations to the many, many people who today will experience the Rite of Sending and Election and become catechumens and candidates in the Church. Today they will meet the Archbishop in the Rite of Election at the cathedral. Let us keep them in prayer as they continue to make this life-changing decision to become Catholics at the Easter Vigil.

Father Greg's Reflection

Father Greg's Reflection

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