From FaithND (University of Notre Dame), edited from the original published in Ministry and Liturgy Magazine.  CLICK HERE FOR ONLINE VERSION

Unlocking Mercy

By Father Ron Raab, CSC

Last year I was called to the hospital to anoint a woman dying of cancer. The chaplain informed me over the phone while I was still in my office that the patient was also a prisoner. He explained that an officer would be at her side and that my presence was already approved to pray with her.

When I arrived at the door of her hospital room, I knocked lightly. I entered and saw the woman in bed near the door. A heavy-set officer sat on the other side of her bed, just a couple of feet away. I bent down at her bedside and she immediately began speaking about her faith. She told me how much she believed in God, and she prayed for her many children and grandchildren. Her eyes sparkled; her skin seemed thin, her arms and hands revealing her many tattoos. She had a profound faith that embraced her experience with cancer.

As I bent down and slowly opened the container of oil, my eyes caught the handcuffs dangling from the officer’s belt. The more I tried to focus on the intimacy of the moment and the profound encounter with her ailing body, I could not help but have one eye on the handcuffs that were reminding her of the earthly ties that still bound her. The more I spoke with her and prayed with her, the more I felt that she was one of the most spiritually free people I had met in a long while.

This image of the handcuffs and the anointing remains with me. We all seek the freedom of God’s love for us, and yet we are all bound by past decisions and lives that have not turned out as we had planned.

I recognize this bedside as the place of God’s mercy. These are the people whom Jesus longs to hold, to heal, and to forgive. This is the bedside of liberation and love. As my years of experience creep up on me, I surrender to such mercy because I do not have any other answers that will set people free.

Through many years of listening to people on the margins of society, I know that I have no power over God’s love when I open the container of sacred oil, or sit in the quiet, sacred room where we offer Confessions. I simply gaze on the fact of the human handcuffs of sin and the divine liberation of love for all people, in all times and seasons.

God’s mercy reveals itself from people who are marginalized, broken, lonely, addicted, and in pain. These are the people who will define for us what freedom is and how we are to find the Shepherd who runs after the lost and holds tightly the lives of the sinful.

I believe in the freedom that our ancestors found in faith. This is the freedom that I take from the altar to the bedsides of people who wait for miraculous healings and for God to unlock the cuffs of their sin and past mistakes.

Father Ron Raab is a Holy Cross priest and pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. This essay first appeared on his blog, Broken But Not Divided, which is worth further exploration.

Please join us for our second, “Sacred Arts Showcase” this Saturday, May 14 from 4pm until 9pm. in our parish center at Sacred Heart Church. Bring some canned goods as a donation. Our art will be on sale, $10-$50. The proceeds go back to our art program.

Lisa, our art teacher will be moving back to Washington, DC in June to take care of family. I am so grateful for her presence in our parish community these past years. We had over 70 students this past year. Lisa has worked with our Holy Cross novices for over a dozen years. I will miss her as my art teacher and friend.

Hope you can join us on Saturday. The art will also be showcased after Masses at Sacred Heart Church on Sunday morning.

“The Ascension” Painting: Ronald Raab, CSC

Column from this weekend’s parish bulletin

The Ascension of the Lord

May 8, 2016

Dear Believers in the Christ,

We celebrate today to The Ascension of the Lord. This feast is inseparable from Pentecost that we will celebrate next weekend. Both of these feasts conclude the mighty fifty days of Easter.

In Luke’s gospel today, we hear Jesus say, “You are witnesses of these things.” “These things are the events of Jesus’ life on earth. These are the keys to our faith that Jesus receives our suffering and redeems us in his death and resurrection. As Jesus once left the earth to ascend to the Father, we know we must keep alive his mission on earth. His mission is to love. His mission is to walk with people on the earth and to bring them to the fullest possible life, the life of compassion, peace, and mercy and moments of deep joy.

We know that the Ascension makes ready for the coming of the Holy Spirit next week. Jesus does not abandon us on earth, but gives us the Holy Spirit in the gift of our baptism and confirmation. The Ascension is the feast where we reflect on the mission of Jesus who once walked the face of the earth and try to but into practice what he wanted for people.

We are witnesses to his life and we need to get off the couch and live the mystery we celebrate. There is much to do in the mission of the Church. We are to live the compassion toward our enemies that Jesus has for each of us. We are to reach beyond our selfishness and extend a hand to people in need because Jesus taught us to wash one another’s feet. We are to reflect the love that we receive from him in our prayer toward a world that feels abandoned, afraid and disenfranchised. We not only witness the passion, death and resurrection but we live it with our fragile hearts every day.

We cannot be witnesses to something we never experience. So we need to pray. We need time to sit in the mystery of life, to ponder it’s meaning, to read the scriptures and to offer to God the deep hurts and wounds of daily living. We need to come to the sacraments especially the Mass and confession. We need help discovering the love God has for us.

There are so few people in the Catholic Church who have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. The Church is not about the externals. The Church only means something if we have the foundation of knowing and witnessing whom Jesus really is. I invite you into prayer. I invite you to sort through the chaos of your life. I invite you to ponder how you need to change. I want in the worst way a parish filled with people who are witnesses of Jesus’ love because every person knows Jesus.

“You are witnesses of these things.” Yes, we are! We know that faith is transformative, that prayer changes our hearts, that hope overrides despair, and that loneliness can be made into true communion with God, that peace can prevail if we take seriously the life and words of Jesus.

Last Sunday in my homily at Sacred Heart, I gave people homework for next week on Pentecost. Here is your assignment for the parish as we prepare for Pentecost!

On Pentecost we celebrate the Holy Spirit. We know the gift of love, mercy, compassion and the guidance we need to live a full, beautiful life. So here is what we all need from each other:

• Pray for everything you need in your life this week as we prepare for Pentecost. Do not leave anything out. Ask for everything! Be bold in your prayer. Be solid in your asking for what you truly desire in life.
• Then, pray for the needs of our parish community. Ask for everything! If you do not know how people are suffering, then ask them! Invite the Holy Spirit into our parish to love us, to challenge us, to console us, to heal us and to give us a true desire to love God and serve people.
• Then, pray for the needs of the world. Ask for everything that will give us hope! Ask for all the big things like peace, clean water and food for people. Ask the big things because we know the Holy Spirit is not dead.

I believe in Jesus and we are all witnesses to his love for us. Pray this week for the renewal of all life and the coming again of the Holy Spirit. We are not orphans in our world after Jesus’ departure. We are God’s plan for a new world.

Blessings,

Fr. Ron

On the Margins: From Mater Dei Radio, Portland, OR

The Solemnity of the Ascension of the Lord: Luke 24: 46-53

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Jesus leaves the earth but does not abandon us. We are people of hope because of his passion, death and resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit. Jesus’ ascension teaches us to act upon our faith.

On the Margins: From Mater Dei Radio, Portland, OR

Sixth Sunday of Easter: John 14:23-29

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Let us not be afraid and rely on the Holy Spirit that gives us hope and satisfaction.

The blog post that I published after the movie “Spotlight” received Best Picture from the Academy Awards was reprinted in the Catholic Herald from the Diocese of Colorado Springs.

CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE

“The Emergence of Love” Painting: Ronald Raab, CSC

The Emergence of Love

Today’s gospel (John 13: 31- 33a, 34-35) gives us another chance to reflect on God’s love for us. We grow in love when God’s love is shared with other people. We change from darkness to light, from hatred to love.

We remember the Last Supper today when Jesus invites us to wash feet and remember him with bread and wine.

We remember from the Lenten season the Pharisees standing around the adulterous woman and we know that we remain a church and a society of stone throwers.

We remember the Prodigal Son coming home and his father running to great him on the path. We remain a people who only stubbornly forgive.

The Book of Revelation reminds us that the old order will pass and something new will happen.

Our lives emerge in love in the Easter Season. Jesus’ resurrection invites us into something new where love is real. Forgiveness takes time. Washing the feet of people is ongoing. Sharing love never ends.

We emerge from bigotry, hatred, violence, despair, from stone throwing and a lack of forgiveness, and loneliness only in the love of Christ Jesus.

Fifth Sunday of Easter: John 13:31-33a, 34-35

On the Margins from Mater Dei Radio, Portland, OR

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In these Easter days, we are called to put love into practice. Love that comes from Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection, love that come from our hearts being converted to the needs of our world. Let us love fully, with open hearts.

“Tender Shepherd” Ronald Raab, CSC

Column from parish bulletin on Good Shepherd Sunday

Dear Followers of the Risen Christ,

Jesus chases us. He pursues us because we already belong to his love and kindness. Jesus wants the best for us because he has already suffered and died for our lives. Our salvation is not our making. Salvation is a pure gift. He looks kindly upon us, not to judge but to offer us a life that his filled with hope, mercy and forgiveness.

This Sunday’s gospel (John 10:27-30) reveals to us again the love of the Good Shepherd. The Fourth Sunday of Easter is traditionally known as “Good Shepherd” Sunday. This image to express the foundation of God’s care for us is a perfect and profound image for the new life that is offered us in Easter.

When I was at Notre Dame for the Holy Cross pastors’ meetings, I went to the Morris Inn for breakfast before leaving to come back to Colorado. There was gathering of new students and parents. So as I sat down at a table to be served my meal, I noticed a father and son across from me. The father’s back faced me but the son’s posture toward his father was in full view for me. I could witness every expression of the son’s face. The son leaned into his father’s presence. The son could not take his eyes off his father. The son spoke to his dad without blinking, he spoke with confidence and fidelity. The son was speaking German to his dad but it did not matter what language he was speaking. His posture and attitude conveyed everything to me.

I admit that I never spoke to my father in such a loving and convicted way. My eyes would have diverted with uncertainty and shame. I suspect that is the experience of most people. This young man’s posture toward his father and toward life will forever be in my heart because this is the posture of real prayer. We need the firm conviction that the father wants the best for us and desires us to thrive.

Are you able in this Easter Season to look Jesus and the Father in the eyes? Are you able to receive the tenderness of Jesus? I hope you will be able through the gift of Easter to feel good enough about your relationship with God to not have your eyes cast down in dread or shame or regret. I hope you will be able to directly come to Jesus to tell him what you need and to be grateful for the opportunity to look him in the eyes.

I have heard so many times recently that people have given up on God. They do so because judgment of the Church is their only experience of faith or community. They give up on God’s searching for them because they are divorced and remarried or because their son or daughter is married to a same-sex partner. They may have given up on the face of Jesus because the faces of people in the pews are harsh and unwelcoming. Their eyes are cast down from the love of God because other people have told them they are not worthy to receive communion or to find a home within the Church.

This gospel and image of the Good Shepherd is at the heart of the Year of Mercy. We need to find ways in which people will understand the love God has for them whether or not their lives are hindered from the rules of belonging in the communion line. We cannot give up on people nor condemn them or judge them. We must seek people out and be kind to them and help them gaze upon the eyes of Jesus and the Father. We cannot let labels completely identify people.

As I mentioned last week at all the Sunday Masses at Sacred Heart, we are working with a consultant from Orlando to look at a plan for our three parishes. We hired an architect last year to design plans for our buildings. Marilyn Blanchette is now helping us focus our future on who we will be and our witness in faith. This work is time consuming and difficult but should provide great outcomes for our future. I will be letting you know more about these plans as the weeks go by. We have also talked about how communication is such a problem and that very few people will read these sentences in the parish bulletin. However, we are forging ahead to provide a future for this community many parishioners input and the words of our consultants.

This coming week the priests of the Diocese of Colorado Springs will be in Breckinridge for meetings. Please pray for us. Our Holy Cross priests from our novitiate will be presiding at daily Masses here at Sacred Heart Church. Fr. Ken, Fr. Don and Fr. Mike will preside this week at 8:00am.

Blessings in this Easter Season,

Fr. Ron