On The Margins – Mark 10:17-30

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“This gospel calls us to a deeper reliance on God. The youth comes to Jesus with a real desire for God and to do the right thing. Jesus challenges him to not only learn something about God, but to live the message by giving his possessions to the poor. Jesus then promises him that he will receive in abundance all that he needs. I learn this utter dependence on God from our ministry among people living in poverty” Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time. Sunday October 14, 2012.

Listen now: [audio http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75239779/On%20The%20Margins/20121014-OTM.mp3]

Stream live On The Margins on KBVM 88.3FM on Saturdays at 7am and Sundays at 8am.

Year of Faith – October 2012

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Painting by Don Vogl.

Pope Benedict XVI has declared a Year of Faith to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Vatican II. In celebration of this moment of renewal, I have written a retreat for each month beginning October 11, 2012 through November 24, 2013. This three minute audio retreat is meant to focus on some essential aspects of our faith and to invite us into prayer. I hope you will enjoy the audio version as well as the written text during this year. Please join me now for this first month of reflection and retreat, our desire for God.

“We begin to rediscover our relationship with God and those we love by acknowledging the desire for love that God has planted within our hearts.”

Listen now: [audio http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75239779/Year%20of%20Faith/Year%20of%20Faith%20w-music%20Oct%202012.mp3]

Stream live on KBVM 88.3FM from October 2012 through November 2013. Music by: Maureen Briare, University of Portland

The Year of Faith Retreat is also available to read and pray throughout the year.

Something beautiful

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Floral arrangement from this past weekend

Every Saturday morning Kim Foren, owner of Geranium Lake Flowers, gives the parish a bouquet of flowers that will not last until the next week. Sometimes she will give us arrangements from banquets or conferences that her crew has decorated. However, on most Saturdays she hands me random flowers that would normally not go together or find their way to a wedding feast or charity banquet. This past Saturday she offered me these pink Gerber daisies and these branches bearing red berries. She told me that she was going to throw these away after the business closed on Saturday. The flowers become something beautiful for spiritually hungry people who gather in our chapel on Sunday morning.

So many people commented on the color combination and the beauty of the bouquet this past weekend. I realized that we create beautiful things from many other donations here as well. Several times a week the local Marriott hotel donates leftover breakfast food catered from conferences at the hotel. We warm the food with a new imagination. We serve it to guests in combinations that would normally not fit into the usual business conference of morning faire. The food becomes something beautiful for hungry people who line up along side our building in the morning hours.

People donate their time to volunteer. This time could have been used in different ways. Instead people use their time and talent to wash feet, to bake cookies, to listen to veterans, to wash dishes or to welcome the first time guest. We collect clothing that is no longer suitable for the donor. We offer clothing to people who need to stay warm in the Portland winter. These are just a few ways in which something beautiful happens from the scraps, the short supply, the leftovers, the throwaway time and the worn clothing. Miracles happen with the oddest of combinations or the colors most people would not put together. Miracles happen from the short supply, the briefest of conversations and the moments of grace.

On The Margins – Mark 10:2-16

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“Jesus presents a child to show us how to be open to the Kingdom of God. The powerlessness, the openness is the starting point. We do not have children in our hospitality center and very few children in our parish… Last year when I toured the neighborhood we saw a man opening the door to a public restroom. We ran to help him. He had just overdosed from heroin…Nothing is impossible with God. ” Sunday, October 7, 2012, Twenty-Seventh Sunday in Ordinary Time.

Listen now: [audio http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75239779/20121007-OTM%20(1).mp3]

Stream live On The Margins on KBVM 88.3FM on Saturdays at 7am and Sundays at 8am.

Inheriting Great Promises

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Originally published by Celebrate! Magazine, Fall 2012
– PDF version –

PREFACE I OF ADVENT
It is truly right and just, our duty and our salvation, always and everywhere to give you thanks,Lord, holy Father, almighty and eternal God, through Christ our Lord. 
 
For he assumed at his first coming the lowliness of human flesh, and so fulfilled the design you formed long ago, and opened for us the way to eternal salvation, that, when he comes again in glory and majesty and all is at last made manifest, we who watch for that day may inherit the great promise in which now we dare to hope…
 
PREFACE III OF THE NATIVITY OF THE LORD
It is truly right and just…
 
For through him the holy exchange that restores our life has shone forth today in splendour: when our frailty is assumed by your Word not only does human mortality receive unending honour but by this wondrous union we, too, are made eternal…
 
PREFACE OF THE EPIPHANY OF THE LORD
It is truly right and just…
 
For today you have revealed the mystery of our salvation in Christ as a light for the nations, and when he appeared in our mortal nature, you made us new by the glory of his immortal nature. 

I pray the preface during the season of Advent standing on the border of a culture clash. As a society we live out an obsession with materialism more obviously during December.  We are on a quest for a perfect holiday of intimacy as presented on television and on the Internet.  We also try to scatter the darkness of the world and within ourselves by stringing twinkling lights and attending obligatory office parties.

However, beginning a new liturgical year, the Church focuses on waiting for Christ in a world of great poverty and longing. We seek the intimacy of a savior who promises heavenly love even among people we ignore.  We begin a journey of walking toward a Light that illumines souls and sparks a loving desire to pray.  This journey satisfies even the loneliest of hearts and most broken of relationships. This journey to God is not obligatory or costly, but this love is sheer gift. God’s love is free for the asking.

This journey in the Advent season goes well beyond the shades of purple draped in our sanctuaries and the quarrels among liturgists on where to display the Advent wreath this year. This journey welcomes people’s lives into the path that the ancient prophets spoke out about. They told their people to straighten up their lives and get their priorities in line with God’s love. This journey opens our earthly hearts toward the realization that Christ is already here among us calling us deeper into the human condition. We are to let go of racism, prejudice and insincerity and anything that diminishes being human. We believe that Advent shocks people into realizing that Jesus still makes a home in our human flesh. This is not a design from the latest couture, but God’s design from our ancient past, that we all become vessels of grace, love and forgiveness.

These are the realities behind the simple words of the Advent preface, “For he assumed at his first coming the lowliness of human flesh”. I remember praying years ago that I longed to make a home in God. I spent years with this prayer. Then one day I realized God needs to make a home in me. This shift in prayer is the essence of Advent. This prayer seemed to change everything in my relationship with God and in serving people in ministry.

This shift is the basis for a new hospitality, to receive Christ within our hearts that are fragile and weary, “and so fulfilled the design you formed long ago”. This is the foundation for learning how to receive other people, just as they are and not trying to change them in our own image and likeness.  Hospitality seems radical and even more counter-cultural during Advent.

Mary and Joseph spent their last moments of pregnancy searching for people to welcome them. This is not a lost image or a cute Christmas story, but opens for us, “the way to salvation.” This reality is still among us today. God is invested in us as human beings. God is waiting for us to welcome the Spirit of love among us. God longs to make a home within us. This image of hospitality is key to praying the prefaces of Advent and Christmas. Today, Christ the Savior is among us, still assuming the lowliness of human flesh.

Our parish community opens our doors to many people every day during the year. Our Hospitality Center is especially busy during the Advent season. People suffer severe loneliness during December. Many people who live outside are struggling to survive another wet and cold winter. People living alone in the single-room occupancy apartments in our neighborhood struggle to keep clean from drugs and alcohol. For so many neighbors Christmas seems beyond their reach because gifts and family are scarce.  Loneliness cripples, defiles and even kills.

We welcome people searching to find a home in simple conversations with dignity and respect. We welcome people who want to give birth to something new in their lives but fear keeps them on the streets and using drugs. We welcome a young man who is just discovering his mental illness and a mother who has just left her boyfriend because he abuses her child. We welcome people lost amid the cold nights and the cold shoulders given by their families. We welcome people sent to the streets because they have no insurance or who cannot make their house payments or keep a job. People are lost in so many ways and our ministry is to welcome people without stripping them of dignity and respect.

This sacred sense of hospitality is not a one-way relationship. “For through him the holy exchange that restores our life has shone forth today in splendor.” I spend much of December days weeping the losses of suffering people.  My heart is open to the coming of Christ in our midst when I can share honestly with people the realities of life and suffering. I am humbled by the complexities of people’s situations and their desire for new life. I do not welcome people to the Table of the Lord believing that my life has power over people or that my hospitality only makes me feel better about myself. This holy exchange of hospitality means that our entire community is changed when we welcome the vulnerable, the ill, the lost and the wanderer. We share our heartaches and the awareness that the lack of justice is real and believable.

Last year on in the closing days of Advent, I walked into our parish office and noticed a sign that a member of our staff was creating on the computer. The sign read, “We will be handing out backpacks and sleeping bags on December 23.” I stood at the computer and cried. The sign told the story of our common ache for people’s lives. We all know we cannot fix people’s situations or provide shelter or housing for people. We cannot solve the situation of the pregnant teen that comes to us seeking shelter for the week. We do not have the resources to solve addictions or the money for the correct prescriptions for cancer or mental illness. We can offer the simplest things, a backpack or a sleeping bag because so many people will not find shelter for Christmas. So many people will be left behind without family or food or parties or new clothing.

In Christmas, we celebrate our human worth as we give birth to the Word. The path of eternal life begins with Jesus in our midst. So often we postpone our acceptance of God’s love for us. I see this often in my own lack of reverence for my gifts, my body and my vocation. I see how we deflect the Incarnation when I sit with a young teen who cuts herself so that she will at least feel life. I see it in how a middle-aged man compulsively has sex with any available partner. He claims his wife does not know. It is easy for us to believe that we will have a home in the after life, so often it is more difficult to believe we have a home in our own bodies.

This message of Christ offered to the world continues Epiphany. Jesus’ presence to us as a miracle from the Father is truly Light for all to see. This presence of Jesus is dimmed by our lack of trust that God will lead us out of the darkness we carry within our lives. The Light is dimmed by violence, war and hatred. This darkness makes us question our selves and the God who will lead us into the future. The Light of Christ offers us direction and hope.

These celebrations of Advent and the Christmas season continue the journey of our redemption in Christ Jesus. The journey is not about purchasing the perfect gift so to fulfill a social norm. This journey is about the rich presence of grace deep within our human hearts and lives. We are guided now not by a star, but our inner lives of prayer, faith and service.

The texts of the preface for these liturgical celebrations challenge us all to receive God in all we do and to make room for our neighbor in all that we hope to become. The Light is here and we cannot gaze at the ground. The Light is for all nations, all times and all peoples. The journey gives meaning beyond the culture clash of Christmas. The journey will lead us safely home singing hymns of glory without end.

 

Christmas 2012 (Cycle C)

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Originally published by GIA Quarterly, Fall 2012
– PDF version –

The Nativity of the Lord, December 25, 2012

I minister among people who have been silenced by generational poverty. Their voices have been stripped of dignity. A man asks softly for clothing and to use the restroom. Another person asks for hygiene products as he signs up for our morning hospitality center. People arrive from the cold and dark nights of the streets into our warm building looking for dignity more than clothing, for purpose more than food, for companionship more than another cup of coffee.

The voices I hear in the Christmas season are shy and hesitant. A woman speaks softly with her eyes cast to the floor because she blames herself for her childhood abuse. A man who just cheated on his wife whispers his sin to me beyond a screen in the confessional. A woman who misses her children and grandchildren murmurs her loneliness to me on Christmas Eve. A young man who recently graduated from college repeats to me the voices he now hears because of his mental illness. The voices tell him to leave his job and to hurt himself. The voices in our urban chapel celebrating the birth of Christ are powerful and yet reluctant.

Plan the Christmas liturgies remembering the voices that cry out in the silent night of Christ’s birth. Remember the people in your parish, neighborhood and city that need to hear from your ministry, “Do not be afraid.” Be a voice of peace and an angel of consolation in presiding, preaching and sharing hymns of familiarity and love. Be the voice of hope for people who will hear only fear and hatred in their marriages or in their workplaces. Remember that the sound of your music will rest in the ears and hearts of people who long for the healing balm of Christmas Mass. People long to ease the wounds that December raises in so many people. Allow God to be born among the voiceless with a herald of joy and earthly peace.

The Holy Family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph, December 30, 2012

Our parish serves many people who are lost to neglect, chemical dependency and past abuse. We have only a few traditional families who worship in our urban chapel. Most people in our community are alone. People live in single-room occupancy hotels or under cardboard. Single adults travel from the distant  suburbs. Families who want their children to know that Christ is in all people attend our Mass. Single men come to our daily hospitality center, Veterans, former prisoners and recovering heroin addicts. No one
is looking for the people in our parish, except the occasional parole officer or the local police.

Mary and Joseph are looking for Jesus. They discover him in the Temple. Mary holds the mystery of suffering and love in her heart. The families in our community are non-traditional. They are families of friendly bonds trying to look out for one another’s needs. There used to be an entire row of people at Mass who were recovering from heroin. They have all disappeared; some are using drugs again and are back on the streets, one is married, another has moved on. We still search for them. We look out for families lost in the issues of life, suffering from violence and neglect and we hold them all in our hearts.

As you plan the liturgy celebrating the Holy Family, remember the people on the margins of your parish family, those you search for in faith. Remember the widow who does not attend Mass anymore, and see that no one has noticed her disappearance. Remember the father who is lost now in Alzheimer’s. Remember the young woman whose child was stillborn. Remember the gay couple in the corner of the last pew. Remember the families that will never be reconciled. Remember the children who resist the commitment to attend Mass. The Holy Family becomes the place where Christ is born in all relationships, among all who care for one another in poverty as well as in prosperity.

Solemnity of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of God, January 1, 2013

There is a deep desire in our human condition to begin again. We make resolutions of personal change that falter as the year progresses. We proclaim a day of peace amid the wars that rise up among us. We claim Mary’s role in our salvation after a night of parties and belief that new will be different than the old. In our parish community the first day of the year may not be different from what has come before. People still do not have sufficient health care or a place to sleep. Their plans and dreams remain as cold as the winter days. We cling to the message that the poor shabby shepherds first heralded among the people, the proclamation that Jesus was born of Mary.

Mary encourages us to see that life can be different. The ponderings in her heart teach us that life is more than our weariness, more than our daily suffering. In our parish community we all hold the suffering of our people in our hearts during prayer. Poverty strips people of dignity and washes hope away. Today, we all begin with the unkempt shepherds to proclaim Christ is the way to new life and healing. We carry in our hearts the desires of new housing, new sobriety, new companionship and new healing.

Prepare this liturgy with a desire that all things might be possible. Remember in music and preaching the deepest human longing to be new again. Mary is our model as she cradles her Son and cherishes within her heart the hope for all humanity.

The Epiphany of the Lord, January 6, 2013

I witness people following the darkness in our neighborhood. Some people claim they will find their way through drugs and alcohol. Another man holds on to his reluctance to take his prescribed medication for his mental illness. He claims he will find his way on his own. A young woman thinks that selling her body will be her way into a new life. I see the darkness claim young addicts and old veterans. Our parish community struggles to reveal a light of hospitality, healing and hope. Searching in only the darkness for new life seldom brings reward.

The magi searched for the child following a star and a hunch. They were drawn to the light that seemed unbelievable and otherworldly. They searched diligently and carried with them earthly gems and valuables. The discovery of the child put into perspective the entire journey. Once we discover the living Christ within our journey everything else is put into perspective. Christ is the only light. This Light is generative, loving and engaging.

As liturgists, musicians and preachers, follow the living Christ within your own life. Reflect on how people in your parish need the Light of Christ. Pray about the hidden suffering among your people when they follow the lure of darkness. Plan the Eucharist realizing that the Light of Christ is among your people, open their eyes with sacred preaching and their ears with sacred music. Allow everyone to acknowledge their gifts to serve others. Step away from darkness and offer Christ the gifts of love and renewed hearts.

The Baptism of the Lord, January 13, 2013

People share the deepest desire to belong. Our relationships form our identity. I witness on our urban sidewalks people being stripped of their identity when their wallets and identification are stolen in the night. I see how our society strips people of their identities by labeling people as “those poor people” or ‘the homeless” or “those faggots” or “those whores”. We are all searching within the deserts of our lives for a new identity, a new purpose in life and to be known for our gifts, talents and real identities.

The baptism of Jesus unites us with the Trinity. We witness our real identity when we follow John into the Jordan and see for ourselves the living Christ. This identity as a follower of Christ sustains us in journeys when we become lost on our own paths. We are the baptized longing for Christ to be the source of our identity. The waters of baptism break open our hearts into the mission of Christ’s passion, death and resurrection.

Prepare this liturgy of the Baptism of the Lord reflecting on the many identities people carry with them: parents, friends, lovers, spouses, workers, parishioners, artists and musicians. We die to our selves and rise with Christ in baptism. Our old identities are washed away in the Jordan and we rise with new eyes for mission and new hearts for love. Our baptism claims us in Christ, and God is well pleased.

Sacred Night, Starry Night

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Originally published by Ministry & Liturgy Magazine, October 2012
– PDF version –

The Nativity of the Lord: Mass during the Night
O God, who have made this most sacred night radiant with the splendor of the true light, grant, we pray, that we, who have known the mysteries of his light on earth, may also delight in his gladness in heaven. Who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever.
 
The Epiphany of the Lord
O God, who on this day revealed your Only Begotten Son to the nations by the guidance of a star, grant in your mercy that we, who know you already by faith, may be brought to behold the beauty of your sublime glory. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.
 

I strolled around our neighborhood recently around midnight. Our streets wake up in the darkness of night. People are drawn to the lights of the new marquee on the nightclub next door to the parish. The sounds of music from gay bars and strip clubs ring out from the dark doors of the buildings. Flickering lights proclaim the cocktail prices and glowing advertisements capture the attention of young adults to drink more beer. Small white Christmas lights bring light to some of the trees lining the street. The bright lights shining on our building also light up the doorway where some homeless people are sleeping. City lights point to sex, drugs and rock-n-roll.

Another light that shines in the night brings people to a different place. I stand in the nighttime Mass of Christmas proclaiming the collect as a warm light leading us to the place of Christ. This prayer seems brighter than the marquee and shines more clearly than the invitations for booze, prostitutes and numbing music. I experience this collect as a beacon of hope, a warm light that draws us closer to the presence of God in whom we all long. My voice becomes a source of compassion, my expressions a light that invites people just as they are to this place of prayer and service. The collect of Christmas Mass at night is a quiet light flickering in the competing lights of the seductive city. Under the shelter of our parish building, people who have the courage to enter our red doors for prayer will only see this light. This light shines from the inside out, from the texts of our prayer to the places of our hearts.

I pray this prayer realizing that somehow it creates a dividing line from so many other things I experience during the Christmas season. No matter the compulsive flickering of neon or the seductive lights in dark barrooms, the light that is expressed when the Mass begins is meant for the attention of all people who ache for healing, forgiveness and companionship. This prayer is meant for us to feel the warmth of the real Light, the person of Christ Jesus. In the depths of all of our prayers at Eucharist, there is a light of dignity, respect and prayer that needs to be drawn out from the text on the page. I pray this collect knowing how harsh and lonely Christmas can be for so many people. The Light embedded in this prayer is not an ancient light of the past, but the grace of God’s activity in our lives today. The Eucharist needs to warm the coldness of loneliness and darkness of doubt on Christmas Eve.

I especially invite priests into this reflection of the Christmas collect. For so many priests, the Christmas Mass can be chaotic and frantic after all the preparations of the Advent season. People’s sufferings expand during the holidays, pain seems deeper and isolation even more depressing. Mass can become something to endure for the pastor, obscuring this invitation to point a warm light on the person of Christ in our midst. The priest needs to stand solidly on the ground of the sanctuary and realize how much people need God to heal them. I invite the pastor to slow down, calm down and discover first the Light of Christ in the depths of his own loneliness. This takes more reflection that just picking up the Roman Missal minutes before Mass. This experience takes time, thoughtfulness and intention. There is grace buried in the heart of each sentence of the prayers of the Mass. People long to be lead into the place of love, compassion and hope. There is a great light that shines forth in the person praying these texts on behalf of all the people who stand in the dim light of their lives. We all wait for the mystery of this light on earth.

The action of Epiphany remains in our day. Jesus Christ continues to be revealed in our lives on earth. The journey to the place of love is for every believer. This collect of Epiphany also needs to be proclaimed by priests who understand the dark night. The priest is invited to reflect on his own experience of being lost, unlovable and on the quest for new life and purpose. The Light is seen clearly in the darkness.

Our worshipping assemblies no longer rely on a star to lead us to the light. We do have prayer texts within the Mass to guide us to places of hope. We do have people who have been touched by God’s mercy who become beacons of hope for many other people sitting in our congregations. We do have young people who put their careers on hold to work among God’s poor. We do have people who search for the Light deep within them selves and find new hope. I now walk amid the lights of the city being sent from the Eucharist believing even more in the light that guides us all.

On The Margins – Mark 9:38-43, 45, 47-48

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“Jesus tries to reorient our priorities. Even our bodies, our most treasured possession, must not be as important as the Kingdom of God…I remember being so afraid of speaking with this man who was completely paralyzed. He said to me, “I am the one who is paralyzed, so why are you so afraid.” We need to pray through our own fear. We set our hearts, our bodies and priorities on the Kingdom of God.” Sunday, September 30, 2012, Twenty-Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time.

 

Listen now: [audio http://dl.dropbox.com/u/75239779/On%20The%20Margins/20120930-On-The-Margins.mp3]

Stream live On The Margins on KBVM 88.3FM on Saturdays at 7am and Sundays at 8am.

30-Minute School of Prayer: Session Two

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30-Minute School of Prayer

For the past several years, I have been offering an occasional series in the parish called the 30-Minute School of Prayer. This is the second post in the series. I will reflect on occasion about one particular aspect of prayer. There is no one place to begin nor is there a particular sequence of reflections that must be read in order. I simply invite you to rest in God as you have come to experience God. I invite you to reflect on practical matters and issues or ideas from the gospels. Take time to reflect on the text here then be still, calm your life and be quiet for 20- 30 minutes. So we begin.

Session Two:

“Jesus summoned the Twelve and gave them authority over all demons and to cure diseases, and he sent them to proclaim the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. He said to them, “Take nothing for the journey, neither walking stick, nor sack, nor food, nor money and let no one take a second tunic.” Luke: 9

As you begin your silent prayer, remember God has first called you to prayer. This is real grace. God initiates our desire to come before Divine grace as we are and not how we perceive we should be. God calls us into action first by receiving our hearts in love, consolation and purpose.

There are often many obstacles that we place before God that keep us from silence, from sincere recollection and even the joy that God desires of us. We cling to many things. We hold on to our illusions of wealth, education and even our opinions. We want to be ‘correct’ in all of our relationships, we hold on to notions of always being right. Our bloated egos carry many things that keep us from the simplicity of silence, of true daily prayer. Jesus invites us to let go of even the things that seem essential, walking sticks, food, money and luggage. We carry only the love that God has for us in our daily prayer.

I invite you to ponder the emotional objects you hold on to that seem to keep you from prayer. Selfishness, greed, pride, slander, or whatever holds you back from the choice to offer your complete life to God. You may cling to food, sex or alcohol addiction. You may hold back because you think you do not believe enough to follow Christ. Look again at the Twelve who were told they could cure diseases and even heal the sick. We can respond to God’s call today, in silent prayer and who knows what will happen!

Today, I am reluctant to offer my life and silence to God because…

Jesus, you are calling me to follow you and I …

So now I invite you into silence. Let us begin.

Baptism and Confirmation

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Baptism and Confirmation
St. Francis Xavier Church, Burbank, CA

In early 2000, I designed the concepts for nine stained-glass windows at Saint Francis Xavier Church in Burbank, CA. Here is the third window, Baptism and Confirmation. Below is the text from a brochure I wrote about the windows and edited by Jim Fanning.

The third window begins a contemporary depiction of the sacramental life of the Church. We are united to Christ in the initiation sacraments of baptism and confirmation. We see the baptismal candle, the Paschal candle, rising out of the waters of baptism, and in the flames representing the Holy Spirit, the strength and dignity of confirmation.

Icons: Upper Left: The priest pours water over an infant’s head in baptism, signifying our rebirth in Christ Jesus. Baptism is our beginning moment in Christianity. Upper Right: The door is the symbolic notion of baptism as entry into the Kingdom of God. In the Jubilee Year of 2000 (MM), the Holy Door was opened at the Vatican by Pope John Paul II. Lower Left: The creative hands of God and the atom suggest the first creation of God. Baptism denotes the second creation. We are born again in Christ Jesus.  Lower Right: At the funeral liturgy, the body is brought to the door of the church just as the person was welcomed in baptism. The priest blesses the body symbolizing our life and death in Christ. Baptism is our entry into the Christian faith, death, our entry into eternal life. Death gives way to Kingdom life.

Hidden Images: Oral Tradition: Coffee Cup and Donut: One of the ways the people of St. Francis Xavier Parish express their baptismal mission is the monthly sale of coffee and donuts for the Holy Cross missions throughout the world. The cup of coffee and donut reflect our enduring commitment to social justice and the baptismal mission of Christ Jesus.