Cover for parish bulletin: Mary, Holy Mother of God: Painting, Ronald Raab, CSC

CLICK HERE to read the complete parish bulletin for this weekend.

Dear Followers of the Messiah,

Today has many meanings. We celebrate a World Day of Peace. We flip the calendar for a new year, 2017. Today, the Church celebrates a holy day, the Solemnity of Mary, the Holy Mother of God still in the Christmas Season. Today might also be the day in which you make some new resolutions such a losing ten pounds or to clean out the garage. Today might also be a day of hangovers and regrets from New Year’s Eve. Today, no matter how you view the New Year, is an opportunity to also change your life with God.

Today’s gospel (Luke 2:16-21) tells the story of how the shepherds saw Mary and Joseph and the infant lying in a manger. The shepherds then went and told others what they saw. People were amazed. Here is the critical point here: the message of the Messiah’s birth came from poor people, shepherds. People that we would least expect, were telling other people about Jesus. Here are some important questions for you this year: How will you discover and see Jesus? Who will reveal God to you? Will you be open to finding Jesus in unexpected ways? Does your faith matter to you? Will you trust your search for Christ?

I suspect that for most of us, we will find Jesus when we are ready to find him. We usually find Jesus in our vulnerability such as an unexpected illness, a job loss or in an argument with your adult children. Sometimes in such vulnerable moments, we then argue with God because we assume God hates us and condemns us. We blame God for allowing such things to happen. I understand this. However, God does not condemn us in our vulnerable or even our sinful moments. Sometimes God uses our weakness, our humble hearts and even our tragedies to simply get our attention, to open our hearts for authentic trust.

We need God more than ever. Mary models faith with trust and openness. In today’s gospel, Mary carries these events in her heart. We cannot live in God without the ability to carry our daily concerns within our own hearts. This is a first step to profound prayer. We need God to transform our lives when we stumble and finally realize we need something more than ourselves in this life.

Today’s celebration of Mary challenges us to live with hope in our world. On this World Day of Peace, we need more than ever the conviction that God’s presence remains within our vulnerable and fragile lives. We are the containers for peace in our world. We hold within us the ability to work for justice and remedy the world’s ills. We hold all of these things in our hearts and ponder the love God has for the world and us on this New Year’s Day.

Thank you to all for the Christmas wishes and the cakes and candies that you have dropped off for me and the parish staff to enjoy. I am so happy that you all are apart of our Catholic family. Happy New Year.

Blessings to you,

Fr. Ron

On the Margins from Mater Dei Radio, Portland, OR

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Sunday January 1, 2017

Mary, the Holy Mother of God

We celebrate Mary as the Mother of God. Mary is the mother of hope. She bares the mystery of Jesus’s love in our world. We also celebrate the World Day of Peace. Let’s us all be part of God’s plan and the dignity of all life in our world. Make plans to renew your prayer, to open up your heart to the reality of God’s love within your life. Be an instrument of justice and peace in our day and time.

“The Creative Night” Painting: Ronald Raab, CSC

Click here to also read an article from the website of the Congregation of Holy Cross, where this art appears.

Click here to read full bulletin from Sacred Heart Church.

My dear followers of Jesus, the Prince of Peace,

Welcome to Christmas! Welcome to our prayerful celebrations at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Chapel in Manitou Springs, Holy Rosary Chapel in Cascade and Sacred Heart Church in Old Town, Colorado Springs.

I am grateful for your presence and most especially your prayer as we celebrate the Incarnation, the miracle and mystery of Hope in our world. Welcome to you who join us for the first time and welcome to our long time parishioners. Welcome to those of you who are searching for a spiritual home and those of you who ache for God’s forgiveness and tenderness this silent and holy night.

Today, we gather in faith to treasure the love God initiates in our lives. The Real Presence of Jesus unites our families. Although Jesus offers us healing and peace, I am also aware that a lack of forgiveness still creates division and uncertainty within our families. Our world is still restless and violent. Even at our family tables during these beautiful days, we argue over our differences and still feel the hurt from our past relationships. In fact, today can also be the loneliest time of year for some of our elderly still grieving the loss of a spouse or for a high school student who cannot believe he or she will ever find love.

We gather as families and as believers around the manger scene to discover for our own lives that we are loved in the here and now, beyond our selfishness and even beyond our fear. The gospel (Luke 2: 1-14) for Christmas Eve and the gospel (John 1:1-18) proclaimed on Christmas Day, both invite us to open our hearts to God-made-flesh. The miracle of this day reaches far beyond the warmth of our family hearth, but extends to the areas of violence and war in our streets and throughout our world. Each one of us becomes an instrument of such love in our words, our actions and our service. God depends on us to keep the flame of hope burning in our world. However, we cannot give what we do not have. God alone provides the justice, love and peace we are all searching for in our world and so we turn to God alone this Christmas Day.

Thank you all for your love and service within our parish community this past year. I look forward to the ways in which God is calling us further into practicing our faith in our communities and beyond.

If you are searching for God or questioning your own life, please know you are welcome here. My prayer for us all is that we may open our hearts this Christmas Day to the wonder and tenderness of God’s mercy and find for ourselves that we are loved beyond measure.

With prayer and gratitude, Merry Christmas,

Fr. Ron

On the Margins: Christmas Day, 2016

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We are all searching for Jesus. Today we celebrate the Word-Made-Flesh, the Incarnation, the manifestation of Love. Believe that God’s love is for you, within you, within your despair and uncertainty. Christmas is real.

Merry Christmas, Fr. Ron

Reading 1 Sg 2:8-14

“Do not be afraid” Painting: Ronald Raab CSC

Gospel Lk 1:5-25

In the days of Herod, King of Judea,
there was a priest named Zechariah
of the priestly division of Abijah;
his wife was from the daughters of Aaron,
and her name was Elizabeth.
Both were righteous in the eyes of God,
observing all the commandments
and ordinances of the Lord blamelessly.
But they had no child, because Elizabeth was barren
and both were advanced in years.

Once when he was serving as priest
in his division’s turn before God,
according to the practice of the priestly service,
he was chosen by lot
to enter the sanctuary of the Lord to burn incense.
Then, when the whole assembly of the people was praying outside
at the hour of the incense offering,
the angel of the Lord appeared to him,
standing at the right of the altar of incense.
Zechariah was troubled by what he saw, and fear came upon him.

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah,
because your prayer has been heard.
Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son,
and you shall name him John.
And you will have joy and gladness,
and many will rejoice at his birth,
for he will be great in the sight of the Lord.
He will drink neither wine nor strong drink.
He will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from his mother’s womb,
and he will turn many of the children of Israel
to the Lord their God.
He will go before him in the spirit and power of Elijah
to turn the hearts of fathers toward children
and the disobedient to the understanding of the righteous,
to prepare a people fit for the Lord.”

Then Zechariah said to the angel,
“How shall I know this?
For I am an old man, and my wife is advanced in years.”
And the angel said to him in reply,
“I am Gabriel, who stand before God.
I was sent to speak to you and to announce to you this good news.
But now you will be speechless and unable to talk
until the day these things take place,
because you did not believe my words,
which will be fulfilled at their proper time.”
Meanwhile the people were waiting for Zechariah
and were amazed that he stayed so long in the sanctuary.
But when he came out, he was unable to speak to them,
and they realized that he had seen a vision in the sanctuary.
He was gesturing to them but remained mute.

Then, when his days of ministry were completed, he went home.

After this time his wife Elizabeth conceived,
and she went into seclusion for five months, saying,
“So has the Lord done for me at a time when he has seen fit
to take away my disgrace before others.”

“Angel of Hope” Painting and Bulletin Cover: Ronald Raab, CSC

Read my column from this week’s bulletin and view my cover painting. Click on link to read the full bulletin. 

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Dear Believers in the Word-Made-Flesh,

Today’s gospel (Matthew: 1:18-24) reveals to us a shift in the Advent liturgy and prayers. For the past three weeks, we have been focusing on the end times, the Second Coming of Christ Jesus. We now move into a reflection on Jesus’ birth and the movement toward celebrating Christmas.

In this gospel, Joseph receives a message from an angel. He had found himself in quite the unusual situation. It was against the law for him to marry a woman who was pregnant. His intention was not to abandon his future wife, yet he did not understand what to do. So this angel comes in the night to tell him, “Do not be afraid to take Mary your wife into your home.” The angel goes on to explain that the Holy Spirit has given the couple this child and that the child is going to change not only his earthly parents, but also the entire world.

This gospel shows us the validity of our dreams. I want every individual and every family to hold on to this passage from Matthew at Christmas. I really want our dreams to change us. Our dreams can show us that our lives do not have to be perfect in order for some amazing and beautiful things to happen within us. God plants within every human person the seed of goodness, hope and the talents to enrich our earthly existence. So dream on! Dream big!

If you notice within the gospels that whenever something new is about to happen to Jesus, an angel says, “Do not be afraid.” We, too, are to be open to God in changing times. When Jesus is about to be born, do not be afraid. When the resurrection is about to be revealed, do not be afraid. When the Holy Spirit is celebrated, do not be afraid. Through all of these transition moments, the gospels show us that fear is not to be the motivating action.

I invite us to not be afraid. I pray for your families in the conclusion of this Advent season so that fear will not be a guest at your table when your family arrives for Christmas dinner. I pray that when you reminisce about the events that have happened this year, that fear will not guide you into the future. I pray that you take to heart what Joseph realized, that your families do not need to be perfect in order to be faithful. If Joseph’s family was not perfect, do not think that your family has to be perfect. I pray for our parishioners this week that fear does not override our mission to serve people most in need. I pray that fear does not motivate our prayers about our nation, the decisions of our national leaders, our neighbors, friends, relatives or our brothers and sisters in poverty, loneliness and illness.

In this week before Christmas, light a candle in the stillness of evening. Dream with those you love even if they are not in the same room. Recognize the burdens you carry. Entrust your life again to Jesus, the Light of the World. Pray for those who need forgiveness from you. Pray for peace and the end of division and hatred. Allow your heart to enter into the message of an angel that fear is not the answer. Live the peace you pray for. Embrace differences. Listen to Saint Joseph. Turn off old judgments in your mind and enter the love of Emmanuel, “God is with us.”

Advent Blessings,

Fr. Ron