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The Small Stuff, 2.0, Twenty Truths

5/14/2019

Last weekend I wrote an article that spoke about how sometimes the smallest thing can turn out to be the lynch-pin, the driving force, for something much more grand. This Fourth Sunday of Easter (Good Shepherd Sunday), The First Reading (beginning with Easter Sunday and continuing through the Feast of Pentecost), is from The Acts of the Apostles. In Acts we hear the story of God’s activity in the life of the Church—this is the third stage of our salvation history—God’s saving plan for his people. The first stage is The Old Testament (God’s activity in the life of Israel); the second stage is The Gospels (God’s activity in the life of Christ). We are graced to live in the third stage—God’s activity through us and the Church. This is an awesome commission for believers in Christ!

During the Season of Easter we have the opportunity to be inspired by these “acts” of the apostles. Paul and Barnabas say the Lord has commanded them to be “a light to the Gentiles, that you may be an instrument of salvation to the ends of the earth.” You may ask yourself, how can I, too, be this light; how can I be an actual instrument of salvation? I say: remember the small stuff… Last weekend I issued a challenge to be the person who does the little thing (small stuff) that will make life more positive for those around us—so we may be God’s loving activity on earth, and faithful, forgiving, instruments of God’s salvation.

A friend sent me these “Twenty Truths” that I thought had some good ideas about what our daily acts in the world may be—there are some useful suggestions, some valid advice and some food for thought. They may be useful for framing how we Disciples may act in small ways to be God’s positive force in the world. Enjoy! And Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

TWENTY TRUTHS --

Faith is the ability to not panic.
If you worry, you didn't pray. If you pray, don't worry.
As a child of God, prayer is kind of like calling home every day.
Blessed are the flexible, for they shall not be bent out of shape.
When we get tangled up in our problems, be still. God wants us to be still so He can untangle the knot.
Do the math. Count your blessings.
God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.
Dear God: I have a problem: Me.
Silence is often misinterpreted, but never misquoted.
Laugh every day, it's like inner jogging.
The most important things in your home are the people.
Growing old is inevitable, growing up is optional.
There is no key to happiness. The door is always open.
A grudge is a heavy thing to carry.
He who dies with the most toys is still dead.
We remember moments, not days—life moves too fast, so enjoy your precious moments.
Nothing is real to you until you experience it, otherwise it's just hearsay.
It's okay to sit on your pity pot now and again, just be sure to flush when you are done.
Surviving and living life successfully requires courage. The goals and dreams you seek require courage and risk. Be like a turtle, it only makes progress when it sticks out its neck.
Be more concerned with your character than your reputation. Your character is what you really are, while your reputation is merely what others think you are.

The Greatest in Heaven

5/6/2019

It is a long-standing devotion to crown statues of Mary with a laurel of flowers for the month of May. This Sunday following the 11:30 Mass, join us at our Marian shrine for this opportunity to show honor to the one we rightly call “the highest honor of our race” (Judith 15:9). This ceremony has a lesson to teach us about the Gospel: that the greatest in the kingdom of heaven are those who are foremost in serving and in love.

Our Lord Himself came to serve, not to be served; He drew all things to Himself when He was lifted up from the earth, and He reigned from the Cross by the power of gentleness and love.

And Mary, whose glory we proclaim today, was the humble servant of the Lord when she was on earth: she gave herself utterly to her Son and His work; with Him, and under Him, she was an instrument in our redemption.

Now, in the glory of heaven, Mary is still the God-bearer to us, Christ’s brothers and sisters: she cares about our eternal salvation; she is minister of holiness and queen of love.

David J. Conrad

The Small Stuff

5/6/2019

The other day I was cooking a soup—anxious to make it full of all the ingredients that promote good health—and I couldn’t find the twirly blades for my food processor. The smallest part was missing—and the entire appliance was rendered useless—a whole meal planned that grinds to a halt for want of that particular small part… So many times in life it’s the littlest things—the seemingly insignificant things—that are necessary for any “grand” outcome! So, maybe the little things are actually big things—and sometimes the very necessary small stuff only masquerades as the insignificant.

In today’s Gospel (The Third Sunday of Easter), the Disciples are asked by Jesus to “Cast the net” “Come have breakfast” “Tend my sheep” “Follow me.” These seem like small and simple things; small and every day actions—but they make all the difference in the entire world to us. How many moments in any life, seemingly small moments, become important to the rest of what follows? (There is a saying: “Little moments, humble though they be, make the mighty ages of eternity.”)

Have you ever noticed that much of life is made of events or happenings or opportunities or things that might fall into a classification of a very small thing, small stuff, but then, not really? There is small stuff on the negative side—that may actually be big stuff. For example: it may be that person at work who gets on your nerves. You come into the office with a great attitude and within minutes after a short interaction your day feels ruined. It's a small thing, but not really. It may be a repeated conversation with your spouse, or your children, or your boss—and yet, nothing changes. It could be that squeak or rattle your car started making after hitting that pot hole; or maybe that tender, odd bump that showed up on your neck; or a cough that will not cease... Seemingly simple, relatively small things—but not really—and they are things that may have a significant impact on your everyday life.

But the diminutive may also fuel the portentous—the seemingly unessential being in fact the most essential of all: like the twirly blades, or a small prayer, or a simple request. These things may become the rudders in our lives—steering and propelling us far below the surface of our grand decisions, helping us to do the work we need to do; that we are called to do. It might be the note you received in the mail from the friend you have not seen in a long time. It's a little thing, but not really. It might be a smile, or a good and hearty laugh, a hug, listening and forgiving, sharing stories, a few gentle, wise words—small things that may mean so much in the grand scheme of life. Sometimes, so much big stuff may hinge on the small stuff!

This, then, is the challenge for Disciples of Christ: Don't be the person who does that little thing that can turn someone’s day wrong—but do what we would call a small, positive thing. “Come, have breakfast.” “Cast the net.” Be the person who does the things that make life more joyous and fulfilling—even and especially in the small stuff of every day. “Tend my sheep.” They be little acts of love, or maybe little resistances, or small noble stands—and yet they may affect this existence of ours and others. “Follow me.” Small stuff—everyday actions.

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

Divine Mercy Sunday - Message & Devotion

4/28/2019

The message of The Divine Mercy is simple. It is that God loves us – all of us. And, He wants us to recognize that His mercy is greater than our sins, so that we will call upon Him with trust, receive His mercy, and let it flow through us to others. Thus, all will come to share His joy.

The Divine Mercy message is one we can call to mind simply by remembering ABC:

Ask for His Mercy. God wants us to approach Him in prayer constantly, repenting of our sins and asking Him to pour His mercy out upon us and upon the whole world.
Be merciful. God wants us to receive His mercy and let it flow through us to others. He wants us to extend love and forgiveness to others just as He does to us.
Completely trust in Jesus. God wants us to know that the graces of His mercy are dependent upon our trust. The more we trust in Jesus, the more we will receive.

This message and devotion to Jesus as The Divine Mercy is based on the writings of St. Faustina Kowalska, an uneducated Polish nun who, in obedience to her spiritual director, wrote a diary of about 600 pages recording the revelations she received about God's mercy. Even before her death in 1938, the devotion to The Divine Mercy had begun to spread.

Spend time to learn more about the mercy of God, learn to trust in Jesus, and live your life as merciful to others, as Christ is merciful to you. Visit www.thedivinemercy.org.

David J. Conrad

The Triduum from Start to Finish

4/28/2019

Donned in my new imported, tailored, Italian threads from this year’s pilgrimage, I set out to serve at all of the Triduum liturgies. While I have served at every one of these before, I can’t recall ever serving at each consecutively, in a year. I have to say, it helped me jump start into the Easter Season. So much richness was there in those days, seeing it up front and attentively made up for the lackluster Lenten experience I felt this year.

While we had decent crowds, there was room for more at these liturgies. I know next Easter is a year away, but it is also a year closer to our time with Jesus, hopefully in heaven. Make a commitment this Easter to participate in as much of the 2020 Easter liturgies as possible. And, make a commitment to participate in Mass every weekend until then. Remember, St. Aidan has a 7pm Tuesday Mass that fits into working family’s schedules if you make room for it.

Paul Pyrkosz

The Peace of Christ

4/28/2019

Today, the Second Sunday of Easter, the familiar story of the Disciple (“Doubting”) Thomas’ absence from the upper room is told in the Gospel of John. The room was locked; Jesus appears and stands in their midst and says: “Peace be with you.” I was thinking about how this story begins with Christs’ greeting, and I began to consider what true peace may mean.

In a general sense, peace is the absence of any conflict or chaos. On a personal level, it may mean many things: Peace may mean paying off this month's credit card bill or finishing that report for work. Peace may be arriving home after fighting rush hour traffic, or not fighting with your spouse or children for at least one night. Peace may be not hearing gunfire after dark, or having a whole night uninterrupted by a phone call of some bad news. Peace may mean a good report from the Doctor and lab. Peace is something that we desire for ourselves and should desire for others.

So what about peace with God? For some that may be a distant concept. Maybe we've never really tried to establish a personal relationship with God. Maybe some of us used to feel good about our standing with God, but now we're filled with doubt. Maybe we don't have the feeling we used to have, or sin has gotten in the way. You know: the big kind of sin that leaves us feeling guilty for years. Or maybe it's just a general disenchantment with God and being disappointed by Him time and again. Perhaps we've grown a bit cold—not turning our backs on God—but just drifting away from Him.

All or any of these things may steal our peace. I suggest that to overcome those kinds of feelings, we might try to take the focus off ourselves and turn outward to Godly work that needs to be done. We need to recognize that we aren't trying to earn our own salvation, but should focus on Jesus and what He has done for us as the example for our own “acts” as apostles. Peace with God comes through trusting in Jesus, trusting in His love and His care for us, and working for the Kingdom. When our faith led us to baptism, we entered into a relationship with Him that will provide us with the peace that God can give. It's not about us… it's about Jesus and what He did for us.

If you don't feel at peace with God, you may still be focused on yourself. There is plenty to do—work is a blessing—and can bring you peace. Step away from you and turn toward others in this field of souls. Through what you do, you might be the reason that others receive some peace here on earth. Jesus is there in the lives and faces of those around you as you do what He would do. It's time to trust in Him and His power to save. Peace be with you!

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

The Resurrection is Historical Fact

4/21/2019

John Updike wrote a beautiful poem where he chides Christians who want to treat Jesus’ Death and Resurrection as a moral parable rather than as an actual historical fact (see below). Sadly, too many theologians and spiritual writers in recent times have tried to domesticate the Resurrection: “It just means the cause of Jesus goes on; we are just going to bear his presence to the world; it means we remember him fondly; it means he has gone to God.” The trouble with these statements is that the same could be said of any great and admired figure. If that is all the Resurrection - and thus Christianity - means, then it falls apart. The Resurrection is not something that happens to the disciples; it happens to Jesus. God the Father raises Jesus from the dead, and Jesus shows Himself bodily present to His disciples after His death. Jesus was not simply resuscitated, that is, returned to this world as He was before death; Jesus is transformed. He has conquered death. Jesus appeared bodily present to His disciples. This reality took their breath away. The Good News is first and foremost the fact that Jesus is bodily risen from the dead. Everything else in the Christian life flows from this reality. Because of His Resurrection, we see that Jesus has conquered sin and death. If you take those things away, you take Christianity away. The Resurrection is the corner-stone of Christian faith. Christ is Risen! Indeed, He is Risen!

David J. Conrad

Seven Stanzas for Easter

Make no mistake: if he rose at all It was as His body; If the cell’s dissolution did not reverse, the molecule reknit, The amino acids rekindle, The Church will fall.

It was not as the flowers, Each soft spring recurrent; It was not as His Spirit in the mouths and fuddled eyes of the Eleven apostles; It was as His flesh; ours.

The same hinged thumbs and toes The same valved heart That-pierced-died, withered, paused, and then regathered Out of enduring Might New strength to enclose.

Let us not mock God with metaphor, Analogy, sidestepping, transcendence, Making of the event a parable, a sign painted in the faded Credulity of earlier ages: Let us walk through the door.

The stone is rolled back, not papier-mache, Not a stone in a story, But the vast rock of materiality that in the slow grinding of Time will eclipse for each of us The wide light of day.

And if we have an angel at the tomb, Make it a real angel, Weighty with Max Planck’s quanta, vivid with hair, opaque in The dawn light, robed in real linen Spun on a definite loom.

Let us not seek to make it less monstrous, For our own convenience, our own sense of beauty, Lest, awakened in one unthinkable hour, we are embarrassed By the miracle, And crushed by remonstrance.

Falling for the Third Time, Again

4/21/2019

It turns out falling twice is never enough to make a point. Another Lent went by, and while I spend my days crisscrossing parishes and genuflecting before the Blessed Sacrament, I still fail over and over at leading a life as the Archbishop is now calling all of us to do; as one in a band of joyful missionary disciples. There were points during Lent when I was reminded I needed to step up my prayer, but I fell back into my old ways soon after, again and again and again.

St. Francis probably had good reason for the 9th station of the cross, “Jesus Falls a Third Time.” Perhaps it had to do with Peter denying Jesus three times, or maybe it also had to do with John’s Gospel where Peter is asked three times “Do you love me?” Well, here we all are at Easter. And just like Peter we cry in front of Jesus, admitting our shortcomings and weaknesses and say to the Resurrected Christ, “You know everything, you know that I love you.” We certainly fell along the way, and we will fall again, but today we celebrate that scraped knee, stand up, and profess our love to Jesus in His glorious defeat over sin and death. If Easter is in our heart, we are rejoicing in His love, hopeful of our salvation, and constantly working to strengthen our triple love for Him.

Have a Blessed Easter Season.

Paul Pyrkosz

An Easter Story of Grace and Generosity

4/21/2019

The following is from “The Best of Bits and Pieces” (Arthur Lenehan)

Robert De Vincenzo, the great Argentine golfer, once won a tournament and after receiving the check and smiling for the cameras, went to the clubhouse and prepared to leave. As he walked alone to his car in the parking lot, he was approached by a young woman. She congratulated him on his victory and then told him that her child was seriously ill and near death. She did not know how she could pay the doctor's bills and hospital expenses. De Vincenzo was touched by her story, took out a pen and endorsed his winning check over to her. “Make some good days for the baby,” he said as he pressed the check into her hand.

The next week he was having lunch in a country club when a Professional Golf Association official came to his table. “Some of the boys in the parking lot last week told me you met a young woman there after you won that tournament.” De Vincenzo nodded. “Well,” said the official, “I have news for you: that woman is a phony. She has no sick baby. She fleeced you, my friend.” De Vincenzo said, “You mean there is no baby who is dying?” “That's right,” said the official. “Well!” said De Vincenzo, “That's the best news I've heard all week!”

De Vincenzo's attitude is reminiscent of the generous spirit that God has shown toward us. He responded to the good news of a baby not sick and dying, rather than the fact that he had been tricked by the woman. Despite mankind taking God's goodness for granted, and despite our repeated failures of sinfulness, God was willing to give us the ultimate sacrifice of His Son. God did so; willingly and gladly, knowing that while most of us would only show disdain for his gift, some of us would respond in obedience motivated by faith and love.

“For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the u godly. Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find the courage to die. But God proves his love for us that while we were still sinners Christ died for us. (Romans 5:6-8)”

At Easter we welcome back those who have been away from the Body of Christ (maybe since Christmas). As Disciples we are called to be as generous to others as God was for us. May the realization of what God has given motivate you to respond to Him, and to reach out to others with the same kind of love always. Keep praying! Keep breathing!

Keep singing!

Elizabeth Dyc

Just a Note: Thank you and may God bless all the members of the St. Aidan Music Ministry - choirs, cantors and instrumentalists - who gave so generously of their time, talent and treasure in order to serve for all of the Holy Week liturgies! Please hug a musician today for their hard work, love and dedication to this parish. Thanks so much!

Blessing of Foods at Easter

4/14/2019

The Author's 2008 Easter Basket

Archbishop Vigneron reminds us that “faith is enculturated through various family and cultural traditions and celebrations” (Unleash the Gospel, 7.2). Easter provides an excellent opportunity for enculturation by assembling and having blessed your family’s basket of Easter foods. Though associated with the Polish heritage, this delightful practice can be acquired by any family; the gradual acquisition of the characteristics and norms of a culture other than one’s own can be very enriching, and in this particular case, is an opportunity to weave our Catholic faith into the rhythm of our daily life.

I think we are quite familiar with children’s Easter baskets, but did you know they owe their origin to the custom of bringing baskets of food to church for blessing on Holy Saturday? The children’s baskets of candy and eggs can be included in the blessing service.

The foods traditionally blessed for Easter, the feast of the Lord’s Passover from death to life, are the foods which God prescribed for the ancient Passover meal: lamb, bread, wine, and bitter herbs.

The lamb, either meat or a symbolic lamb in the form of cake or butter, is the ancient Passover food by whose blood the Israelites were saved. Jesus is our Paschal (Passover) Lamb by whose blood we are saved.

Ham celebrates the freedom of the New Law which came into effect through Jesus’ Resurrection, in distinction to the Old Law which forbade certain meats. Sausage is the ethnic addition to enhance the celebration; its links remind us of the chains of death which were broken when Jesus rose from the dead.

Bread reminds us of Jesus, the risen Lord, who in the Eucharist is the food of our earthly journey and the true bread of everlasting life.

Eggs are a sign of hope and resurrection. Jesus comes forth from the tomb as the chick breaks the shell at birth. Because of the special meaning, it is fitting that the eggs to be blessed are decorated.

Horseradish represents the bitter herbs prescribed in the original Passover meal as reminder of the bitterness and harshness of life in Egypt. It reminds us of the the bitterness of Jesus’ Passion by which He entered into glory.

Wine is the drink of the Passover meal and the Last Supper. Its sparkle reminds us of the glory of Easter. Wine gladdens our hearts and helps us enter into the joy of Christ’s Resurrection.

Everything for the Easter meal may be blessed. The custom is to reserve the eating of blessed food until after one participates in Easter Mass.

The Blessing of the Easter Food here at St. Aidan’s will be on Holy Saturday, April 20th at 11 A.M. in the church.

David J. Conrad

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David J. Conrad, M.A. Theology. Our Director of Faith Formation.

Paul Pyrkosz. Our Youth Minister & Bookkeeper.

Elizabeth Dyc. Our Director of Music Ministry.

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