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On the Margins from Mater Dei Radio, Portland, OR

14th Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel MT 11:25-30

At that time Jesus exclaimed:
“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to little ones.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.”

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Full Bulletin: Click Here

Dear Followers of Jesus Christ,

Jesus is far from the center of most people’s lives. So many of us tend to believe that if we keep the ritual action of Mass once a week, we will be fine. Others believe that if we can memorize the Catechism, Jesus will open the eternal gates to us. Still others hope that if we can protect the Church from sinful people such as immigrants, homosexuals or women who have made a decision for abortion, things will go well and our self-righteousness will take us first class to heaven.

Jesus challenges all these approaches. He wants our hearts and every aspect of our lives to become a fountain of love. Jesus wants us, just as we are in the real world, in every action and thought.

Our gospel today, Matthew 10:37-42, challenges our relationships with Jesus. He says to us that our human relationships are nothing compared to our intimate friendship with God. He heals, forgives, loves and provides hope. This is a great promise for us in our daily lives. Jesus invites us to take up our human suffering in his cross.

Many people are not interested in learning more about Jesus, about coming to terms with our human hearts and our priorities. Somehow, we need to break through our reluctance to find Jesus. Many people are bored with the Church and deaf to it’s teaching and weekly preaching. Jesus aches to be in touch with our human suffering, our heartaches and our hopes for a better life. He wants to rip open our short attention spans and capture our imaginations.

Here is where the rubber meets the road. Jesus said, “Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” This is radical and provocative. What does he mean? No wonder why most people do not care about Jesus! He wants us to lose ourselves into a deep, intimate relationship with him. Love really changes us; it really does. It is a lot easier to cling to our possessions, our past hurts and our own path, the one that we think is really, “it.”

Instead, let’s fall into Jesus’ care and protection by offering a cup of cold water to someone in need. Let’s fall head over heals into a new relationship with God and offer what little we have: our self-reliance, our security systems, our power and greed, our malfunctioning hearts and puffed-up egos. Let’s allow Jesus to enter our pride and transform us into generous, self-giving people we call the Church.

Heck, all this in exchange for a cold cup of water! Not a bad trade off. Go for it. See what happens. Love releases love releases love releases love. Love pours out hope.

How can you enter more deeply into meditation, prayer and gratitude during these summer months? How can you rely even deeper on God’s sustaining love for you? How does offering a cold cup of water change you?

Blessings,

Fr. Ron

On the Margins from Mater Dei Radio, Portland, OR

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Thirteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time: Matthew 10:37-42

Gospel MT 10:37-42

Jesus said to his apostles:
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me,
and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me;
and whoever does not take up his cross
and follow after me is not worthy of me.
Whoever finds his life will lose it,
and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

“Whoever receives you receives me,
and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.
Whoever receives a prophet because he is a prophet
will receive a prophet’s reward,
and whoever receives a righteous man
because he is a righteous man
will receive a righteous man’s reward.
And whoever gives only a cup of cold water
to one of these little ones to drink
because the little one is a disciple—
amen, I say to you, he will surely not lose his reward.”

We are beginning the restoration of Sacred Heart Church this week. Yesterday, was the last Sunday Mass in our building until February, 2018. I gathered folks after Mass at the doors of the church and prayed this litany in gratitude for these last 95 years and the hope for our future. (Photos: Fred Nelson)

Litany for Locking of the Doors for Restoration

Sunday June 25, 2017

Noon at Sacred Heart Church

Text: Ronald Raab, CSC

Response: Restore our hearts, O God

In gratitude for our 95 years of prayer in this building…

In gratitude for silent prayers and tears shed…

In gratitude for the generations of families who prayed…

In gratitude for the priests who stood at this altar…

In gratitude for baptisms, confirmations and weddings…

In gratitude for funerals and memories of our deceased…

In gratitude for mercy received in moments of confession…

In gratitude for the squeaky pews and the duck tape on the carpet…

In gratitude for the architect, engineers and construction workers…

In gratitude for our benefactors and believers…

In gratitude for patience and determination of our councils and committees…

In gratitude for all of our gifts and talents and songs of praise…

We close this door in love and memory…

We lock this door so something new may be revealed…

We lock this door in trust that you will restore our hearts in prayer…

We lock this door in preparation for a new generation of believers…

We lock this door trusting that the Heart of Jesus will thrive within us…

For tomorrow…

For tomorrow…

For tomorrow…

“You are worth more than many sparrows” Painting by: Ronald Raab, CSC

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Dear Believers in Christ Jesus,

I recently sat at the bedside of an elderly couple married for 66 years. They were almost paralyzed by fear, the deep fear of one spouse losing the other. They were confused about their conversations with doctors and feared what the nursing home attendants were telling them. I reached into the oil of the Sacrament of the Sick and touched their foreheads and their fear with love and understanding.

Presence in darkness is a balm of hope. Jesus says that all will be revealed. This couple’s fear covered their day in darkness. Our conversation brought light. I wanted to shout from the rooftops that for a moment their fear dwindled on that summer afternoon.

Today’s gospel, Matthew 10:26-33, calls us into a deep trust. Jesus says that we are worth more than sparrows. During my conversation with the couple, I wanted them to see their value the way Jesus does, as much more than the tiny birds in the cage in the lobby. People get lost in old age and illness. People lose their way from divorce, mental impairment and a lack of insurance. Sometimes it is up to us to bring light and a simple presence to people.

We are all worth more than the sparrows. Sometimes we lose sight of our value when we can no longer fly free like the birds and feel the fresh air of the morning. Sometimes when our children betray us, when our bodies are stiff with arthritis, we no longer feel cared for or valued. We may feel Jesus forgets us when our money runs out and our ability to walk is gone.

Jesus says to all of us again, “Do not be afraid.” We find our freedom when we sing like birds in the Mass, when we pray through our fear, even in times of great darkness. Our prayer does not stop in our church. Our prayer is taken deep into the darkness of a nursing home with the drapes closed. Our prayer is taken into jail cells, to the starving people of the Sudan and into the centers where people recover from meth and heroine in our city. Our prayer, offered as light and hope, is seen well beyond our churchyard and the confines of our supper tables.

Our faith is lived deeply in our world. No matter our education, no matter how much money we have earned, no matter what neighborhood of our upbringing, we are called to extend our prayer deeply into the human condition. We do so because so many people need to know once again that they are cared for more than sparrows. Jesus shows his care through our efforts to help others.

How can you enter more deeply into Jesus’ care and tenderness for you? What do you need to admit to or let go of to discover whispers of hope from Jesus? What is concealed in your life that needs to be revealed? How are you being called to show others that God cares for them?

Blessings,

Fr. Ron

On the Margins from Mater Dei Radio, Portland, OR

Twelfth Sunday in Ordinary Time, June 25, 2017

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Gospel  MT 10:26-33

Jesus said to the Twelve:
“Fear no one.
Nothing is concealed that will not be revealed,
nor secret that will not be known.
What I say to you in the darkness, speak in the light;
what you hear whispered, proclaim on the housetops.
And do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy
both soul and body in Gehenna.
Are not two sparrows sold for a small coin?
Yet not one of them falls to the ground without your Father’s knowledge.
Even all the hairs of your head are counted.
So do not be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.
Everyone who acknowledges me before others
I will acknowledge before my heavenly Father.
But whoever denies me before others,
I will deny before my heavenly Father.”

“The Sacred Heart” Painting by: Ronald Raab, CSC

Today is the Solemnity of the Sacred Heart, an image at the core of our religious community, The Congregation of Holy Cross. I am also privileged to serve as the pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Colorado Springs, CO. Today is a deep celebration of love, of being loved. Prayer text: Ronald Raab, CSC

Gospel MT 11:25-30

At that time Jesus exclaimed:
“I give praise to you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth,
for although you have hidden these things
from the wise and the learned
you have revealed them to little ones.
Yes, Father, such has been your gracious will.
All things have been handed over to me by my Father.
No one knows the Son except the Father,
and no one knows the Father except the Son
and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal him.

“Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened,
and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me,
for I am meek and humble of heart;
and you will find rest for yourselves.
For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.”

Prayer: Heart of Christ

Our imaginations rise from our weakened hearts

To find a flow of love that will calm our pain.

Come and settle into our brokenness

In the ways we set up house in the only chaos we know.

Invite us to

Walk and learn,

Sit and pray,

Admit our self-sufficiency.

Into the rapid beating of your heart,

Help us experience the patient rhythm of hope,

A life greater than our own.

Amen

“Corpus Christi” Bulletin cover for June 18. Painting by: Ronald Raab, CSC

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Dear Believers in Christ Jesus,

Today we celebrate a feast that focuses on what we do as Christians every day, the belief in the Eucharist. This feast becomes a treasured moment when we truly reflect on Christ’s real and continuing presence among us. We are not alone in our faith, but sustained in the reality of Christ’s presence in His Body and Blood.

The gospel today, John 6:51-58, offers us the invitation to follow Jesus, not only on earth, but also toward the gift of eternal life. We are bonded in Jesus’ life through the celebration of the Eucharist. We shall be united with Christ for all eternity as we remember him on earth.

This feast now culminates the series of celebrations before we enter into Ordinary Time. Pentecost, The Trinity and Corpus Christi all remind us of our renewed faith in Lent and Easter. Today, we are aware that we belong to Christ, our true identity.

We celebrate the Eucharist daily as a reminder of our connection to Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. This is the core of our faith. The Eucharist feeds us in our weariness, in our hunger for justice, hope and security in the world. The Eucharist changes our hearts and attitudes, our perspectives and our identities. We are loved and the depth of that love takes us a lifetime to ponder and to live in our world.

The Eucharist brings to humanity much mystery. The mystery is God’s enduring love for his people. We worship God in the Eucharist. However, we also break open the hardships, misfortunes and apathy that we experience living here on earth. Why is humanity so important within the Eucharist? This is where the mystery lies. God’s unique love for us must be given a home, a resting place within the human soul. We cannot believe in God in the abstract. We must be able to find God’s love in human transformation.

When we discard human need of the Eucharist, we disembody God’s love. We are to become what we eat. We are to live in our world in fidelity and trust. We must find the mystery within our human hunger and discover God who feeds us. We must scrape injustice from our world and let God into all human suffering. The Body of Christ is not a static notion and not just a host we adore, but the reality that we are called to bring such love in our world and relationships.

Today, many people of our young generation do not believe in the Real Presence of Christ. Some have a difficulty because they do not see us older folks believing and living out such a reality in the world. We must practice what we preach, believe what we profess and live what we celebrate. The Eucharist is grounded in deep human need and longing. This is where the mystery lives.

How can you pray in your personal prayer the deep meaning of the Eucharist? What does it mean for you to live the Eucharist in the world?

Blessings in the Body of Christ,

Fr. Ron

“Body and Blood of Christ Jesus” Painting by: Ronald Raab, CSC

Sequence — Lauda Sion

Laud, O Zion, your salvation,
Laud with hymns of exultation,
Christ, your king and shepherd true:

Bring him all the praise you know,
He is more than you bestow.
Never can you reach his due.

Special theme for glad thanksgiving
Is the quick’ning and the living
Bread today before you set:

From his hands of old partaken,
As we know, by faith unshaken,
Where the Twelve at supper met.

Full and clear ring out your chanting,
Joy nor sweetest grace be wanting,
From your heart let praises burst:

For today the feast is holden,
When the institution olden
Of that supper was rehearsed.

Here the new law’s new oblation,
By the new king’s revelation,
Ends the form of ancient rite:

Now the new the old effaces,
Truth away the shadow chases,
Light dispels the gloom of night.

What he did at supper seated,
Christ ordained to be repeated,
His memorial ne’er to cease:

And his rule for guidance taking,
Bread and wine we hallow, making
Thus our sacrifice of peace.

This the truth each Christian learns,
Bread into his flesh he turns,
To his precious blood the wine:

Sight has fail’d, nor thought conceives,
But a dauntless faith believes,
Resting on a pow’r divine.

Here beneath these signs are hidden
Priceless things to sense forbidden;
Signs, not things are all we see:

Blood is poured and flesh is broken,
Yet in either wondrous token
Christ entire we know to be.

Whoso of this food partakes,
Does not rend the Lord nor breaks;
Christ is whole to all that taste:

Thousands are, as one, receivers,
One, as thousands of believers,
Eats of him who cannot waste.

Bad and good the feast are sharing,
Of what divers dooms preparing,
Endless death, or endless life.

Life to these, to those damnation,
See how like participation
Is with unlike issues rife.

When the sacrament is broken,
Doubt not, but believe ’tis spoken,
That each sever’d outward token
doth the very whole contain.

Nought the precious gift divides,
Breaking but the sign betides
Jesus still the same abides,
still unbroken does remain.

On the Margins from Mater Dei Radio, Portland, OR

Solemnity of the Body and Blood of Christ

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We become the Body and Blood of Christ in the world by the gift of the Real Presence of Jesus Christ. Let us worship and live in this great mystery.