“Christ the King”
Painting in acrylics: Ronald Raab, CSC

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ,

Today we celebrate Our Lord Jesus Christ, King of the Universe. This is the last Sunday of our liturgical year. This celebration is a reminder that all things are in Christ. This image of king is not about our earthly understanding of all power and authority; it is about knowing that in time, all things belong to Christ, that in the end, everything will be all right. This is an amazing image for us to consider. “All things”, that means poverty, loss failure, sinfulness and greed. This means our personal sin and corporate irresponsibility. In other words, Christ will take on to himself the world as the world is, all things will find a home in Christ who is the King of the Universe.

The gospel today, Matthew 25:31-46 is particularly powerful. I believe this is one of the most important texts in the four gospels. Imagine this, we will find salvation only if we visit a prisoner or offer someone a glass of water or share a meal or clothe the naked. When we visit the sick and befriend the marginalized then we shall enter the house of the Lord, we shall find salvation itself. This seems so easy. Yet, we gloss over this passage as a Church because it is difficult to live on a daily basis. There are days when it is easier to find a rule in a book and follow it rather than be associated with people on the margins of society, or who are sick or contaminated or who find their home is behind bars.

We fear the losses of other people. This is why this gospel is so difficult to live. We fear losing our homes, our financial security and even our freedom. This is why sheltering the homeless, offering people security and visiting people behind bars is so difficult, because we tend to have the inner instinct of fear that it will happen to us. However, we are called into such countercultural activities because people need us and we need to respect the dignity of all people. This gospel often gets put on the shelf in many parishes. This is exactly what Pope Francis is trying to get at in his challenge to us to serve people in poverty and in doing so we recognize the living Christ. I am always amazed that in the gospel stories, it was the person who as ill or marginalized who always knew who Jesus was, what he could really do for him or her.

If we want to find Jesus in our own lives, then we must hang out with the very people whom Jesus served, touched, listened to, anointed and healed. We must listen to people who have little, because their abundant faith will also set us free. This is what our salvation rests upon, following Christ into the lives of people who really need God.

This image of Christ the King that I painted a few weeks ago reflects the dignity of Jesus. I realize it does not view him in the trenches of life, but it reveals a regal dignity, a beauty of Jesus as King of the Universe. The image is not mosaic, but just paint. As I painted this particular piece one Sunday afternoon after Masses, I tried to pray for every member of our parish community and our commitment to live this gospel passage of service to all people. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

(Taken from my column in our parish bulletin for this Sunday)

“The Man Born Blind”
Charcoal: Ronald Raab, CSC

“Jesus, Son of David, have pity on me!”

“Lord, please let me see.”

Once again, the blind man teaches us to search out the Christ, to see the wisdom that is before us. His blindness speaks out on behalf of our own blindness that keeps us from seeing the beauty of people and the love God has for us. I ache to have the vision of this man, to see what he saw and the understanding to know that only Christ Jesus sets me free.

“The Servant Who Buried His Master’s Money”
Charcoal Sketch: Ronald Raab, CSC

“The Servant Who Buried His Master’s Money”

Burying our worth is evident in our day and time:

A mother buries her love for her child because of postpartum depression.

A father buries his value for his family at the bottom of a booze bottle.

A teen stifles her potential as a violinist because she cuts herself to hide her pain.

A son shuts down behind shame as he hides his sexual orientation in high school.

A recent college graduate hides his genius under a rock because of his depression.

A grandmother hoards possessions to hide her grief of losing her spouse of 53 years.

A cousin joins the army thinking that he can hide his drug abuse from his family.

An aunt collects trinkets thinking she is hiding her addiction to prescription medications.

A brother hides his abilities in mathematics because his sister is mentally disabled.

Another cousin turns down his acceptance to Harvard to care for his sick father at home.

A teenage girl quits high school to care for her meth-addicted mother.

A brother quits his artistic expressions because his father views him as effeminate.

A neighbor is now homeless because of his long-term depression from being abused.

Our value, our gift, our talent must not be hidden under a rock or buried in the ground.

Our worth comes from the miracle of our lives, just as they are in Christ Jesus.

“Souls Awaiting the Christ”
Painting: Ronald Raab, CSC

Dear Believers in the Christ,
We celebrate the Commemoration of All the Faithful Departed,
All Souls.
We buried nearly forty members of the Tri-Community this year.
We were called to deathbeds minutes before death.
We received phone calls even in the nighttime reporting death.
We carry within us the grief of those who have died this past year. Continue reading →

The Scriptures call us into the depths of God’s love for us. We are to love God beyond anything or anyone else on earth, with our entire hearts, with our very lives. We are also called to live that love in the world. The same love that claims us in God, we are to offer to other people. We are challenged to live beyond our negative attitudes or degrading thoughts. We are to love those who have less power than we do, widows and orphans, people who are hungry and without shelter. We are to replace our cultural power with the love of Christ for other people.

The charcoal drawing today is called, “The Searching Christ”. Jesus’ face turns to seek us out, to find us even when we believe we are unlovable. Jesus searches out after us, when we are lost among our own false opinions and self-sufficiency, among the fray of feeling left out, among our loved ones with whom we cannot reconcile. Jesus teaches us to love the Father and invites us to love people in our world. Jesus is the presence of hope within us, the attitude of non-violence and the new openness to all people.

“Nothing Else to Give”
Drawing by: Ronald Raab,CSC

I sketched this face in just a few minutes. The quick-draw reminds me that the details of many people in poverty are seldom known to most other people. This face also reminds me that society seldom cares for the detailed needs of such people, they are easily out of our sight and concern. People are often considered worth-less. This face says to me again that we all belong to God. We are called by God to give ourselves not only to God’s love and plan, but to live that love in our world where people are ignored and lost.

The title of this face tells us that we give from our need. We give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and we give to God what is God’s. For so many people, there is nothing left to give Caesar, but we give to God the essence of our lives, the poverty of our humanity. Our true worth comes from the image of Christ on our hearts. Our value does not come from the image of Caesar on a coin. God then, in mercy and love, takes care of our lives, our hearts and our future, in Christ Jesus.

“Without”
Drawing by Ronald Raab, CSC

The invitation to the feast in Matthew’s gospel goes out to people on the streets, from the highways and byways. This man accepted the invitation but was not properly dressed. This image of not wearing a wedding garment shocks us in this gospel. The image is about people who have not been baptized, they are not properly dressed in the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. They have yet to belong to the covenant of Christ Jesus, the marriage of heaven and earth.

This drawing shows the scrawny man that is naked and not yet ready to be clothed in Christ Jesus. This simple outline captures his emotions of feeling embarrassed about not yet responding to Christ. He challenges us to ready our lives and hearts because the feast is for every person.

Drawing: Ronald Raab, CSC
“Last minute”

This is one of my first drawings from a couple of weeks ago after not picking up a pencil in over thirty years. He is the worker being hired at five o’clock. No one hired him that day, he waited until the very end. He looks over his shoulder in unbelief and yet relief, with caution and mistrust and yet gratitude. He received his full-day pay.

God’s love and mercy are a gift to us even at the last minute. So often we think we need to earn God’s love. Free, free, free is the mercy of the Father. We do not pull ourselves up from our own bootstraps to get to heaven. We do not save ourselves. God saves us, even at the last minute.