The Most Holy Body & Blood of Christ - May 29, 2016

Around this time I find myself singing (or at least humming) the classic George Gershwin tune that starts, “Summertime, and the living is easy.” From Holy Week through the end of the school year, a Catholic parish generally has a lot of exciting things going on. As great as that always is, it generally feels very good to come to this point, when things a slowing down a bit. But before we reach that point, let me look at a few things going on at this time.

This weekend we celebrate the great Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ, still frequently referred to by its Latin title of Corpus Christi. This is a special opportunity to give thanks for the wonderful gift of the Eucharist. There is a custom in the Church of having a procession with the Blessed Sacrament through the streets of the town, so that everyone may see with what great esteem we hold the gift of the Eucharist. In modern times such processions are much more difficult, as they would require a stoppage of traffic. We have a procession entirely on our own property. We have Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament after the 11:00 Mass, with the Eucharistic Procession to a temporary altar in the gym for Benediction at 3:00.

Monday is Memorial Day. I hope we have some good cookouts to celebrate the beginning of summer, but let us remember that the main reason for this holiday is primarily to recognize the sacrifice of those who have given their lives in service to our country in our nation’s wars. This holiday should remind us that we owe our freedom to those who have given so much. Mass on Memorial Day will be at the usual time of 7:15, and I will be taking part again in the annual Kennedy Township parade later in the morning.

This Wednesday evening our eighth graders graduate from St. Malachy School. I offer my congratulations to all our graduates, whether from eighth grade, high school or college. It is exciting to move on to new ventures. To our eighth grade, please know that it will not be the same around here without you. Godspeed.

Once the eighth grade is gone, we turn our attention to the rest of the school and their great escape for the summer. The last day of school is Thursday, when we will have Mass followed by the “step up” experience. That gives me a chance to see the seventh graders and start thinking of them as our new eighth grade, to think of the sixth grade as our new seventh grade, and so forth. That also gives me a chance to wonder how time can go by so quickly and how the children can grow up so fast.

The last day of school will be somewhat bittersweet this year. It is always great to get to that summertime, when “the living is easy.” But this year there is sadness in saying goodbye to more than just our graduates. Our principal, Mrs. Janet Escovitz, is retiring, as is our long-tenured kindergarten teacher, Mrs. Marianne Pfeifer. We also are losing another of our well loved teachers as Mrs. Christen Glover (formerly “Miss D”) moves to Iowa. I hope that Mrs. Escovitz, Mrs. Pfeifer and Mrs. Glover all know how much we will miss them.
                                                                                     Father H                  

The Most Holy Trinity - May 22, 2016

This week I will celebrate my thirtieth anniversary of my ordination to the priesthood, and what a wonderful ride it has been. Sure, there have been some hard times, but that’s true for any person in any vocation. Whatever the struggles, I wouldn’t change it for the world. One of the struggles, of course, is that there are fewer and fewer of us priests, and that means that the load is not getting spread around as much as it once was. So I would like to ask you to pray for vocations to the priesthood and religious life.

We often pray that God will call more young men to the priesthood, but I am convinced that this is not an issue. The problem is not that God is not calling. The problem is that those whom God calls are not responding. In many cases, the lure of success as defined by our modern culture is drowning out the call of God to the priesthood. It is difficult to hear God calling us to a vocation that requires sacrifice when the world around us promises instant gratification and tells us that we have to take care of ourselves. But for those who accept the call, the joys far outweigh the struggles.

I have often had CCD and school students ask me when I decided to become a priest. I always tell the story of Fr. Robert Murphy, pastor of my home parish of St. James in Wilkinsburg. I knew Fr. Murphy from my youngest days. I was one of his Altar Boys (as we were called when girls could not take that role), and he had come to our house for dinner. But when I transferred from public school to the parish school for sixth grade, I got to see him more frequently. Yes, that is one reason why I am so dedicated to school and CCD ministry, though certainly not the only reason. In any event, my strongest impression of him was that he was always happy. I wanted to be happy in life, so I thought I might try what made Fr. Murphy happy. But as I always tell the students, I eventually realized that Fr. Murphy did not try to make himself happy. Instead of asking what he wanted to do each day, he always asked what God wanted him to do. He always wanted to be in service to Christ and His Church. I use that memory as a reminder for the times when I tend to put myself first. My true joy has come when serving God by serving His people. So please pray that more young people may see that true joy comes from answering the call that God gives, whether to priesthood, religious life, marriage or single life.

Finally, please pray for the health of all our priests. Fr. Michael Maranowski is back at the parish and doing well, but he still has doctors who disagree with one another over exactly what his condition is, and he still is getting back to full strength. Fr. Patrick O’Brien still intends to come here every week, but most weeks he calls to say that he is not yet feeling up to it. And we all see how heroically Fr. Russell continues to serve us through his physical limitations. Please pray for all of us priests, as I thank God this week for thirty years of priestly service.
                             
                                                                                                    Father H                  

Pentecost Sunday, May 15, 2016

Every once in a while, I have two (or more) subjects that I want to write about. I can either choose one over the other or try to work them both in without cutting either one short. That can be a challenge when the subjects are totally different. But every once in a while, they mesh together so well that I couldn’t have planned it any better. That’s when I tell myself that the Holy Spirit has managed the situation in a way that looks like simple coincidence. This week, in fact, the Holy Spirit is at the heart of the entire situation.

Today is the great feast of the Holy Spirit, Pentecost Sunday. Christ promised to send the Spirit upon His followers, and we see the difference the Spirit made when He descended upon the Apostles in tongues of flame. These men, who were so timid that they had locked themselves in the upper room, now went out fearlessly to proclaim the good news of Christ. These uneducated men were suddenly able to make themselves understood by people from many different nations and languages. The Holy Spirit made a noticeable difference.

Pentecost is a promise of the Holy Spirit to the entire Church. But this week we have another promise of the Spirit to an important portion of our parish. This Friday evening, Bishop Zubik will visit our parish to give the Sacrament of Confirmation to our eighth graders. Rather than tongues of fire descending from heaving, these young men and women will experience the Sacred Chrism anointing their foreheads as the bishop proclaims, “Be sealed with the Gift of the Holy Spirit.” The newly confirmed will then seek to live the faith with the help of the Spirit. Like the Apostles, they will be strengthened by the grace they receive.

Comparing Confirmation to Pentecost is a great opportunity, but it also can be dangerous. We may expect our eighth graders to experience the same dramatic results that the Apostles had. As the Apostles no longer locked themselves in their rooms, so the parents of our eighth graders may expect the newly confirmed to tear themselves away from their cell phone screens. As the Apostles could be understood by the crowds they spoke to, so parents may expect the newly ordained to speak to them in complete sentences and without heavy sighs or eye rolls. At this point we have to remember the words of St. Thomas Aquinas, “Grace builds on nature.” God can work miracles, as he did at Pentecost, but He usually chooses to work gradually and through natural developments. Teenagers who receive Confirmation may still have to go through the painful process of growing up, but they will not do so alone. The Holy Spirit will be with them, even as they struggle with the normal issues of adolescence. The Holy Spirit is also with their parents, helping them to struggle with the normal relationships with teens. And in all of us, the Holy Spirit is a special gift that allows grace to build on nature and bring us closer to God.

                                                                                          Father H      

Seventh Sunday of Easter - May 8, 2016

One time I was watching a little girl playing with a baby doll. She cuddled the doll, sang it a lullaby, and treated it as tenderly as a real baby. Moments later, something else caught the girl’s attention, and she ran off, dragging the “baby” by its ankles, with its head bouncing off the ground. The doll was no longer a baby but only a toy.

Of course, a real mother quickly learns that caring for her children is a full-time job. Motherhood calls for such love, care and patience (even though patience can at times be in short supply) that a mother’s love teaches us so much about God’s love. As we celebrate Mothers’ Day today, we thank God for the loving example of our mothers. There may have been times when we tried their patience (I know I did), but most of us probably remember more clearly how they put up with us and loved us over and over again.

Perhaps this Mothers Day can be a time for many of us to thank our mothers for all that they have done for us. We can probably all think of some things that we have overlooked or for which we should have been more grateful. Perhaps that is why the phone company once report more calls made on Mothers Day than on any other day of the year. (By contrast, Fathers Day was always the day when the most collect calls were made. I will leave the interpretation of that point up to you.) For many of us, though, we no longer have that opportunity. My own mother, for instance, died twenty-four years ago, though it is hard to believe that it has been that long. Yet as our mothers brought us to life, so they also helped bring us to faith in eternal life. That is one reason why I find it so appropriate that Mothers Day falls during this Easter season. One of the images that I think of with this Mothers Day is of a mother holding her baby over the Baptismal Font while I pour the water over the child’s head. I can even imagine my mother in that position, even though I was born before Vatican II, when it was the godparents who took the baby to church.

As we see the connection between Mothers Day and Easter, we also have a reminder that May is the month dedicated to our Blessed Mother. She, above all others, is a sign and inspiration concerning God’s love for us. Those of us whose mothers are no longer with us can indeed look to Mary as a sign of God’s gift of eternal life.

So I take this opportunity wish all mothers a very happy and a very blessed Mothers Day. Thank you for being an example to us of God’s love.

                                                                                    Father H                   

Sixth Sunday of Easter - May 1, 2016

There are a couple of scenes from the Easter gospels that stood out in my mind this year. One is the scene where Mary Magdalene first sees the Risen Christ. As excited as she is, Jesus warns her “Stop holding on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.” The other is from the two disciples who encounter Jesus on the road to Emmaus. They don’t recognize him at first, but “they came to know him in the breaking of the bread,” an expression that referred to the Eucharist. Then, as soon as they recognized Him, He vanished from their sight.

These scenes point to the Ascension of the Lord, which we celebrate this coming Thursday. Christ’s Ascension is a sign that we look ahead to the heaven. At the same time, Ascension Thursday does not end the Easter season. Even as he ascended, Christ promised to remain with us until the end of time. So we live a certain duality, living this life to the fullest but also looking ahead to heaven for our true fulfillment. We will never create a perfect world on earth, but we do not give up trying to make our society as holy as possible.

Ascension Thursday is a holy day of obligation. Please note that our Masses at St. Malachy will be Wednesday at 4:00 PM, Thursday at 7:15 AM, Noon and 7:00 PM. Please plan on being with us for this important day.

Once we get past Ascension Thursday, our Easter season takes on a new character. Ten days after the Lord ascended, the Apostles gathered together, and the Holy Spirit descended upon them. So with Pentecost coming on May 15, the Church takes the time between Ascension and Pentecost to pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit upon each of us. This practice was the origin of the Catholic practice of praying a Novena. The word “Novena” comes from the Latin word for “nine,” referring to the nine days after Ascension which led up to Pentecost. It can now refer to any nine-day period of prayer, but the pre-eminent Novena begins this Friday. As we do try to build the Kingdom of God in this world, we need to pray for the coming of the Holy Spirit, so I would ask everyone to make some prayer each day during that period for the Spirit’s guidance and enlightenment. Pray also that the Holy Spirit can help us keep our patience when things do not go our way, so that we can remember that we will not have perfect joy until we reach heaven. We keep trying, even when we recognize that we are not reaching a perfect world in this life.

So since I am urging you to pray for nine days, let me tell you an old story of a man who went to confession and told the priest that he had stolen lumber from the site where he had been working on a construction job. The priest said, “For you penance, my son, make a novena.” The man said, “Father, I don’t know how to make a novena. But if you’ve got the plans, I’ve got the lumber.”

                                                                            Father H                  

Fifth Sunday of Easter - Sunday, April 24, 2016

As we come to First Communion this week and next, I realize that I overlooked something I have done in past years. I usually print out copies of a photograph from my first Communion and give them to the teachers to show their classes. The children then try to guess who the little boy in the photo might be. Although this year’s class did not see how cute I was in 1968, I thought I still might reflect on what I learned in second grade and how I use those lessons today.

On my First Communion day, there was some confusion about whether the boys would be wearing suit jackets since some of our classmates did not have them. We were then told that none of the boys would wear jackets, so I left mine at home. Almost everyone else had a jacket on, but fortunately everyone agreed that we would leave them behind. We learned that clothes are not as important as the fact that we present ourselves to receive the Body of the Lord.

I remember having to memorize some statements from a mimeographed sheet, but the only one I remember was, “If the host sticks to the roof of your mouth, use your tongue. Do not put your fingers in your mouth.” Of course, that was before Communion in the hand, and only the priest could actually touch the host. Also, our teachers told us not to chew the host but to swallow it or let it dissolve in our mouths. We were all worried that we would commit some sacrilege if we bit it accidentally. Then Fr. Murphy told us that we are indeed allowed to chew the host. We learned then that the Eucharist is not something to be approached with fear, that it was a gift from Christ to show His love to us.

On my First Communion day, my classmates and I wondered what the host would taste like. We found that it was not like the bread we ate at home, but it was enough like eating a piece of bread. Now we let the children practice ahead of time with unconsecrated hosts, but at least we got Christ’s message when He said, “My flesh is real food, and my blood is real drink.”

Looking back at my First Communion, I realize now that I was learning lessons about the Eucharist without even realizing it. There was, however, one point that I did not understand. I remember one of the teachers saying, “Don’t be nervous. Fr. Murphy loves giving Communion to children.” I could not see how children were any different to the priest except that he would have to bend down a little. I did not give that comment much more thought, though, until one First Communion day when I heard myself saying I loved giving the Eucharist to young children. Now I understand. These boys and girls approach the altar with a joy and an innocence that we hope to rekindle in ourselves. For them, this is a big day, and that should help us see that every time we receive the Eucharist, it is a big day for us. So as we see the children of our parish receiving Christ in the Eucharist this weekend for the first time, try to remember your own First Communion Day. Let us pray for these girls and boys, and let us pray that the Eucharist will always be as important to us.                                
                                                                                           Father H    

Fourth Sunday of Easter - April 17, 2016

This weekend is our final session of CCD classes, which brings up the question we ask so frequently, “Where does the time go?” I do remember an old Calvin & Hobbes comic strip when Calvin asked that question, and Hobbes suggested, “Cleveland?” But while our school year still has a way to go, the end of CCD reminds us that summer is coming. And that means we can look forward to some of the projects that will happen over the summer.

Thanks to the diocesan capital campaign that we have all been taking part in, Our Campaign for the Church Alive, we have been able to take care of some important maintenance in our parish. If you have made a pledge to the campaign, I hope that the projects you see will inspire you to continue fulfilling the pledge. One of the projects we will be doing this summer is a completion of the job we started last year. We have a company coming to clean and paint the window frames of the church. With all the glass we have in our church, those frames are very important. This job will prevent rust and keep our church beautiful. It’s a case of maintenance that is much more affordable than the repairs that would be necessary if we do not keep the frames in good shape.

Another job for this summer is to resurface the parking lot. This is another job we are funding through the diocesan campaign, and it will be more than just a patch job. Some time ago I wrote about the paper recycling bins that we have in the back and how the market for recycled paper has crashed, meaning that we are getting very little benefit out of those bins. Our Finance Council agreed that we would do much better to go without them and to repave that area for extra parking. The company that will do the job for us assures us that we can get an extra twenty-some parking spaces, which should help us during the festival and the fish fry as well as for Masses. And of course this whole job will include fresh lines in the parking lot so that people no longer have to guess where the parking spaces are.

There is a job that is not on our list of projects for the diocesan campaign, but I would like to see it get done. The current sound system in our church was not well designed for our space. We have an application in for a grant from a company that wants to help parishes improve their liturgies. We will not hear about that grant until August. If we get it, we can get a system designed to eliminate the “dead spots” in our church. In the meantime, if you cannot hear well, consider trying a different part of the church.

Those are the upcoming projects that we are working on (or hoping to work on if we get funding). Let me also remind you of a couple of dates coming up in the summer. Vacation Bible School runs June 20-24, and the annual Parish Picnic is scheduled for July 24. Save the dates.
                                               
                                                                                                   Father H