a voice from eden

Welcome 2010!!!

2009-12-31T21:31:00.001-08:00

Once In Royal David's City

2009-12-25T01:57:00.001-08:00

Ubi Caritas (Choir of King's College)

2009-12-18T00:21:00.000-08:00

planned parenthood director leaves

2009-11-02T20:49:00.000-08:00

twin baby boys laughing at each other

2009-05-16T23:57:00.001-07:00

Now, could there be anything cuter than this?

Dolan and Paterson set to clash on same-sex marriage

2009-04-16T10:56:00.000-07:00

With N.Y. Gov. David Paterson bent on introducing legislation that will legalize same-sex marriage, the work of newly-installed Archbishop Timothy Dolan begins in haste.

One the eve of his installation yesterday the Archbishop said, "You can bet I would be active and present and, I hope, articulate in this particular position."

The folks here in the Bay Area will soon be receiving a bishop who has been articulate in the issue of same-sex marriage during the campaign on California's Proposition 8: Salvatore Cordileone, presently the auxiliary in San Diego, and slated to be installed as Oakland's new Bishop.

Sometime in the next couple of months, the California Supreme Court is scheduled to rule on the constitutionality of the passage of Proposition 8 which outlawed same-sex marriage.

a voice from "Britain's Got Talent": Susan Boyle

2009-04-15T18:15:00.000-07:00

Remember Paul Potts who awhile back wowed the audience of "Britain's Got Talent"? Seems that four days ago another star is born from the same show.

Tuesday of Holy Week

2009-04-07T14:30:00.000-07:00

From today's Gospel (John 13:21-33, 36-38):

Simon Peter leaned back against Jesus' chest
and said to him, "Master, who is it?"
Jesus answered, "It is the one whom I hand the morsel
after I have dipped it."

So he dipped the morsel and took it
and handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot.
After Judas took the morsel,
Satan entered him.

So Jesus said to him,
"What you are going to do,
do quickly."

"Said Judas To Mary" by Sydney Carter for Monday of Holy Week

2009-04-06T15:22:00.000-07:00

Said Judas to Mary, "Now what will you do
With your ointment rich and so rare?"

"I'll pour it all over the feet of the Lord,
And I'll wipe it away with my hair," she said.
"I will wipe it away with my hair."

"Oh Mary, O Mary, O think of the poor.
This ointment it could have been sold;
And think of the blankets and think of the bread
You could buy with the silver and gold," he said,
"You could buy with the silver and gold."

"Tomorrow, tomorrow, I'll think of the poor;
"Tomorrow," she said, "not today;
For dearer than all of the poor in the world
Is the love who is going away," she said,
"My love who is going away."

Said Jesus to Mary, "Your love is so deep
Today, you may do as you will.
Tomorrow, you say, I am going away,
But my body I leave with you still," he said,
"My body I leave with you still."

"The poor of the world are my body," he said,
"To the end of the world they shall be.
The bread and the blankets you give to the poor
You'll know you have given to me," he said,
"You'll know you have given to me."

"My body will hang on the cross of the world
Tomorrow," he said, "not today.
And Martha and Mary will find me again
And wash all my sorrow away," he said,
"And wash all my sorrow away."

a voice from prison: "For Unto Us A Child Is Born"

2007-12-24T10:30:00.000-08:00

Guadalupe: the fitting Advent symbol

2007-12-12T10:26:00.000-08:00

In our parish this morning, the celebration of today's feast was a rather humble one: certainly not the festive, grand celebration in parishes with the rich presence of our brothers and sisters from Central and South America.

But for me rather than the wreath, or the deep purple of Advent, a more fitting image for this season is the image of the pregnant Virgin of Tepeyac: prayerful, reverent, and expectant of the coming of Christ.

The entirety of our life is one big, grand Advent: in this life we prepare ourselves to meet the Lord: waiting “in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior Jesus Christ,” just as that miraculous image of Mary on the tilma waits for the birth of the Christ Child.

Here is an Advent icon for all people, not just for those whose cultures have always celebrated Our Lady of Guadalupe---but for all believers. In her, we find solidarity with all who wait....with all who are in the margins…..with all who migrate to our land---as Our Lady herself once migrated to a foreign land with her Child---wanting nothing more but to live and to work.

"a voice cries out!"---from Raniero Cantalamessa's reflection on the 2nd Sunday of Advent

2007-12-10T11:00:00.000-08:00

[Raniero Cantalamessa is the Pontifical Household preacher.]

In the Gospel for the second Sunday of Advent Jesus does not speak directly to us but his precursor, John the Baptist. The heart of the baptist's preaching is contained in that phrase of Isaiah that he powerfully repeats to his contemporaries: "The voice of one crying out in the desert, make straight his paths!"

Isaiah, to tell the truth, said: "A voice cries out: in the desert prepare the way of the Lord" (Isaiah 40:3). It is not, therefore, a voice in the desert, but a way in the desert. The Evangelists, applying the text to the baptist who preached in the desert of Judaea, modified the punctuation, but without changing the message's meaning.

Jerusalem was a city surrounded by desert: In the East the road, as soon as it was traced out, was easily erased by the sand blown by the wind, while in the West it was lost in the rugged terrain that sloped downward to the sea. When a procession or an important person had to come to Jerusalem it was necessary to go out into the desert to make a less provisional road; brush was cut away, holes were filled, obstacles were flattened, bridges were repaired. This is what was done during Passover, for example, to receive the pilgrims from the Diaspora. This is what inspired John the Baptist. Someone who is greater than everyone is about to come, he cries, "he who must come," the desired of the nations: A road must be made for him in the desert so that he may arrive.

But here is the leap from metaphor to reality: This path is not made on land but in the heart of every man; it is not built in the desert but in one's life. To build it there is no need to engage in material labor but in conversion. "Straighten the pathways of the Lord!" -- this command presupposes a bitter reality: Man is as a city invaded by the desert; he is closed in on himself, in his egoism; he is like a castle with a moat and the drawbridges all raised.

Worse: Man has complicated his ways with sin and he remains all tied up inside as in a labyrinth. Isaiah and John the Baptist speak metaphorically of ravines, mountains, twisted roads and impervious places. We just need to call these things by their real names, which are pride, sloth, selfishness, violence, cupidity, falsehood, hypocrisy, impudence, superficiality, drunkenness of every sort. (You can be drunk not only on wine or drugs but also on your own beauty, intelligence or yourself, which is the worst drunkenness!) We immediately grasp that this discourse concerns us as well; God's salvation waits on and seeks out in this situation every man.

Straightening a path for the Lord, thus, has a very concrete meaning: It means reforming our lives, converting. In the moral sense the hills that must be made low and the obstacles that must be removed are the pride that leads us to ruthlessness and to be without love for others, the injustice that deceives our neighbor, perhaps adducing specious pretenses to mollify and compensate for silencing our conscience, to say nothing of rancor, revenge, betrayal of love. The valleys to be filled in are laziness, apathy, lack of self-control, every sin of omission.

The word of God does not burden us with duties without at the same time giving the assurance that he will do together with us what he commands us to do. God, says the prophet Baruch, "has commanded that every lofty mountain be made low, and that the age-old depths and gorges be filled to level ground, that Israel may advance secure in the glory of God" (5:7). God makes low, God fills up, God builds the road; our task is to assent to his action, remembering that, as Saint Augustine says, "he who made us without our help, will not save us without our help."

on bad press for priests and on my hope for Judgment Day

2007-12-07T22:38:00.000-08:00

I learned last night that a popular radio host personality here in the Bay Area, Bernie Ward, was indicted on possessing and distributing child pornography. Ward’s defense seems to be that this was all part of the research he did three years ago for a book he is writing.

Quite a number of folks listen to him, known for his progressive views and Catholic commentary. I can number a few folks from this parish who listens to his Sunday morning talk show “Godtalk,” as religiously as they would come to Mass and listen to the priest’s homily.

Many many years ago when I was a more regular radio-talk listener, I’d tune in to KGO Radio and listen to Ward as a guest in Lee Rodgers’ talk show…and the interaction between the two whose political views were opposites was entertaining….and, as a high school student back then, very educational for me. I can say for sure that listening to those two debate on the radio was one of the things that ignited my interest in local and national politics.

Of course, many---if not all---of the news sources here in the Bay Area make mention of the fact that Ward used to be an ordained Catholic priest. The San Jose Mercury News’ banner headline reads: “Ex-Priest faces child-porn charges:”

It’s not “Radio host faces….” or “Radio personality is indicted…”

It’s as if, “Oh, well, he used to be one of those people, so that explains that!”

That irks me.

This news, together with the one about the East Bay priest Greene several weeks ago, and then the one about an HIV-poz Catholic Navy Chaplain the other day have been dismaying. I hope and pray for the day when news associating sexual aberration with the priesthood will cease.

For a novice priest like me these news are discouraging: because I love the priesthood and I love the Church, and when people’s trust in them is hurt by news such as these, I am saddened.

It's Advent, and with last week's Gospel on the Second Coming I sometimes imagine what it would be like on Judgment Day with all of us priests standing and awaiting the verdict. I imagine words from: “Well, you folks have a lot to answer for….” to “many of you did just fine…you all had a lot of unfair bad press for things some of your brothers did, but you as a group did not do too badly at all.”

“You did not do too badly at all.” To hear that on Judgment Day!

exploring Eden and eating scorpions

2007-12-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

I’ve been watching this guy on TV survive in a desert, a forest, a jungle, a glacier, swampland, wherever. Drop this guy anywhere on the face of the earth and he’d figure out a way to survive.

His name is Bear Grylls (what a name) and he eats whatever he can find: bugs, snakes, scorpions, grubs, flowers, zebras you name it---and most of the time he eats them raw. He’d grab a grub, give it a chew, wince, and say something like, “Eww, caught a bad one today....tastes like a puss exploded in my mouth.” Lovely, eh?

Word went out a few months ago that that he may be a fake and that some of the scenes were staged and that Bear had actually spent a night in a motel. So nowadays before each episode, a disclaimer is shown stating that some situations have been presented to Grylls for him to show survival techniques.

But still, I think you can’t fake finding a dead zebra in the middle of a savannah, whose flesh has been torn by lions and vultures, and taking a slice of meat off it and eating it raw!

I see Grylls do all these survivor stunts and think to myself on a bad day in the parish, “This is ok…they’ve not made me eat scorpions yet.”

Grylls eating a crucifix spider.

on the Church's roots and on Ephraim the Syrian on women

2007-11-28T18:21:00.000-08:00

Dedicating the Pope Paul VI hall to the memory of St. Ephraim the Syriac today, Benedict called the saint "the most important representative of Syriac Christianity, and succeeded in a unique way to reconcile the vocation of the theologian with that of the poet."

The saint's writing says something about women: "To Ephrem the role of the woman is a relevant one. The way he wrote about women was always prompted by sensibility and respect: The fact that Jesus dwelt in the womb of Mary has enormously raised the woman's dignity," Benedict says.

Benedict reminded the General Audience that the Church's roots are not European. Said Benedict: "According to general opinion, Christianity is a European religion that has exported the culture of this Continent to other countries. The reality, though, is a lot more complex, as the root of the Christian religion is found in the Old Testament, and therefore in Jerusalem and the Semitic world....Its expansion during the first centuries was both westward -- toward the Greek-Latin world, where it then inspired the European culture -- and eastward to Persia and India, thus contributing to stimulate a specific culture, in Semitic languages, with its own identity."

Here is a portion from Ephraim's work. The scene is Mary, greeted by the princes of Persia bearing gifts for her infant child:

They entered and found Him as a child--
as He dwelt in the house of the lowly woman;
and they drew near and worshipped with gladness,
and brought near before Him their treasures.

Mary said, "For whom are these and for what purpose?
And what is the cause that has called you
to come from your country
to the Child with your treasures?"

They said, "Thy Son is a King and He binds crowns
and is King of all,
and great is His power over the world,
and to His Kingdom shall all be obedient."

At what time did this come to pass,
that a lowly woman should bring forth a King?"

Mary said: "I who am in need and in want,
how then could a king come forth from me?"

[The princes said]: "In thee alone
has this come to pass
that a mighty King from thee should appear;
thee in whom poverty shall be magnified,
and to thy Son shall crowns be made subject."

Ephraim the Syrian

"the Mass must go on"

2007-11-26T18:44:00.000-08:00

A gentleman seated in the first pew collapsed during Mass yesterday. I had just raised the consecrated bread and wine and was in the middle of offering the prayer of doxology when out of the corner of my eye I saw his figure drop with a thud. I caught sight of another man across the aisle rush to him.

I reach the end of the prayer: “….all glory and honor is Yours Almighty Father, forever and ever.” The pianist doesn’t play; the cantor doesn’t sing; not one soul responds “Amen.” Sensing that all were transfixed to the commotion going on in front of me, I lower the chalice and the consecrated bread and proceed to the fallen.

“Are you OK?” I ask.

“Yeah, I am,” he responds, noticing that he’s not beyond his teenage years yet.

His hand was on his forehead rubbing it, and so turning to the young man next to him I ask, “How did he hit his head?”

“My leg. He’ll be ok.”

Turning again to the fallen teen, I ask: “Would you like to rest in the sacristy for awhile?”

“Yeah,” he says without hesitation.

The young man’s brother whose leg fortunately cushioned the landing accompanies him to the sacristy. The parents were out of sight.

I return to the altar, asked the congregation to pray for the young man, and then led them in praying the Lord’s Prayer.

After Mass and after greeting the departing parishioners, I enter the sacristy. The paramedics were treating the young man. His brother and mother were present.

“He had breakfast this morning,” his mother standing in a corner tells me. “Oh he DID have breakfast, Ma’am?” a paramedic wanted to make sure.

I turn to the brother: “Do you think he had a full night’s sleep last night?” Not sure why I asked that. I’ve never collapsed or fainted in my life. But I know I’ve had all-nighters in college and the next day always left me with the feeling of wanting to just drop to the floor and sleep.

“Yeh, I think so,” his brother responds

The paramedics take him to the hospital. His mother and brother follow. The dad I was later told was also in the room, but I didn’t notice him.

Odd.

After removing my vestments, I emerge from the sacristy. A parishioner tells me, “Father, it was quite awkward. I think this is the first time someone’s collapsed at this Mass. Nobody quite knew what to do!”

I said to myself, “What makes you think I know what to do when things like this happen? This is only the fifth time someone has either collapsed or fainted at one of my Masses and every time it happens I simply don’t know what to do.”

Later in the day I told an Episcopal acquaintance about this. He tells me, “Well, you know…..when the Dean of Grace Cathedral died in his stall during the late 1970s, the Mass carried on, as if nothing happened, while paramedics dragged his body out of the stall.”

“Wow…” I exclaim.

"It’s all to keep a stiff upper lip, you know. Even when a rather deranged individual cut in front of the procession & sat with the clergy in the Bishop's stall, the service carried on, without interruption,” he adds.

“Amazing. That incident about the Dean of Grace Cathedral dying at liturgy and no one pausing seems rather heartless, don’t you think?” I ask.

“Oh I don't know. There is something to be said though for carrying on with the Mass, without pausing for death.....Death is just a part of life.”

And at the rate I'm going, collapses are becoming just a part of Mass.

Christ as the rightful King

2007-11-25T09:40:00.000-08:00

[Here is one of my favorite passages from C.S. Lewis' "Mere Christianity" (chapter 7), fitting on this day of Solemnity of Christ the King.]

One of the things that surprised me when I first read the New Testament seriously was that it talked so much about a Dark Power in the universe--a mighty evil spirit who was held to be the Power behind death and disease, and sin.

The difference is that Christianity thinks this Dark Power was created by God, and was good when he was created, and went wrong. Christianity agrees with Dualism that this universe is at war. But it does not think this is a war between independent powers. It thinks it is a civil war, a rebellion, and that we are living in a part of the universe occupied by the rebel.

Enemy-occupied territory--that is what this world is. Christianity is the story of how the rightful king has landed, you might say landed in disguise, and is calling us all to take part in a great campaign of sabotage. When you go to church you are really listening-in to the secret wireless from our friends: that is why the enemy is so anxious to prevent us from going. He does it by playing on our conceit and laziness and intellectual snobbery.

I know someone will ask me, 'Do you really mean, at this time of day, to re-introduce our old friend the devil-hoofs and horns and all?' Well, what the time of day has to do with it I do not know. And I am not particular about the hoofs and horns. But in other respects my answer is 'Yes, I do.' I do not claim to know anything about his personal appearance. If anybody really wants to know him better I would say to that person, 'Don't worry. If you really want to, you will. Whether you'll like it when you do is another question.'

"an honor for all Iraqis"

2007-11-24T11:52:00.000-08:00

Benedict elevates Emmanuel to the
cardinalate

From Al-Jazeera:

Pope Benedict XVI has elevated 23 prelates from around the world to the position of cardinal and delivered a pressing appeal for an end to war in Iraq.

One of the new cardinals is Emmanuel III Delly, the Baghdad-based Patriarch of Babylon of the Chaldeans.

During a ceremony in St Peter's Basilica on Saturday, the pope said Christians in Iraq were "feeling with their own flesh the dramatic consequences of an enduring conflict".

The Chaldeans are Iraq's biggest Christian group and the Chaldean rite is one of the oldest in the Catholic Church.

Saddam protection

Many Iraqi Chaldeans have emigrated since the war started in 2003 and the Vatican has expressed concern that a country with one of the most ancient Christian traditions could be depleted of its faithful.

Protected under Saddam Hussein, there were 700,00 Christians in Iraq.

It is now thought that only half that number remain.

The pope said: "Let us together reaffirm the solidarity of the whole Church with the Christians of that beloved land and invoke from the merciful God the coming of longed-for reconciliation and peace for all the peoples involved [in the conflict]."

He said in his sermon that he had chosen the Iraqi patriarch as a cardinal to express his spiritual closeness to suffering Iraqis.

Other new cardinals came from Germany, Poland, Spain, Ireland, France, Brazil and Kenya, Senegal, India, Mexico, Italy, Argentina and the US.

'All Iraqis'

Emmanuel III, who is 80, said that the honour was for "all Iraqis".

He said: "The title of cardinal that the pope has accorded me is not for my poor self alone but for all Iraqis, both those who still live in our tortured country and those who have emigrated.

"I will continue to serve Iraq and all the ethnic and religious groups of the country who should be united. I will serve my country, Iraq, to the last drop of my blood."

He said the pope had referred to his nomination as a "sign of reconciliation... between Christians and all the Muslims, whether Sunni or Shiite".

The pope has repeatedly called for dialogue between Christians and Muslims to combat intolerance and violence.

[photo: Paul Haring/CNS]

Spiritual voice (30): Clement of Rome on what is expected of priests

2007-11-23T10:32:00.000-08:00

[On this feast of St. Clement (d. 102), the fourth bishop of Rome, I would like to share this passage from the 13th chapter of his first epistle: a passage which speaks of what is expected of priests--of those who work in the vineyard of the Lord]

Beloved brethren, that a man should build up and establish the brethren on the faith in one God, this also is manifest and well-known. This too, again, is comely, that a man should not be envious of his neighbour. And moreover, again, it is suitable and comely that all those who work the works of the Lord should work the works of the Lord in the fear of God. Thus is it required of them to conduct themselves.

That "the harvest is great, but the workmen are few," this also is well-known and manifest. Let us, therefore, "ask of the Lord of the harvest" that He would send forth workmen into the harvest: such workmen as "shall skilfully dispense the word of truth":

--workmen "who shall not be ashamed;"

--faithful workmen;

--workmen who shall be "the light of the world;
workmen who "work not for the food that perishes, but for that food which abides unto life eternal;

--workmen who shall be such as the apostles;

--workmen who imitate the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit;

--who are concerned for the salvation of men;

--not hireling workmen;

--not workmen to whom the fear of God and righteousness appear to be gain;

--not workmen who "serve their belly;

--not workmen who with fair speeches and pleasant words mislead the hearts of the innocent;

--not workmen who imitate the children of light, while they are not light but darkness;

--men whose end is destruction;

--not workmen who practice iniquity and wickedness and fraud;

--not crafty workmen;

--not workmen drunken and faithless;

--nor workmen who traffic in Christ;

--not misleaders;

--not "lovers of money;

--not malevolent.

Let us, therefore, contemplate and imitate the faithful who have conducted themselves well in the Lord, as is becoming and suitable to our calling and profession. Thus let us do service before God in justice and righteousness, and without blemish, "occupying ourselves with things good and comely before God and also before men." For this is comely, that God be glorified in us in all things.

Here ends the first Epistle of Clement

battling with the turkey on Thanksgiving

2007-11-21T10:57:00.000-08:00

I've seen this commercial a few times already and I still get a chuckle whenever it comes on. To all of you out there, a may you have a safe (less-disastrous) and blessed Thanksgiving Day:

a reflection on today's Lectionary readings: on the Presentation of Mary

2007-11-21T10:33:00.000-08:00

Based on 2 Maccabees 7:1,20-32
Luke 19:11-28

Two parents are presented before us today. The first is the brave mother from the first reading, whose beautiful words to her sons emboldened them to face their execution with courage. She, who from their infancy would have nurtured their faith, and she--who would have taught them their prayers and the practices of their Jewish ancestors---enabled her children to remain faithful through the example of her own valiant trust.

And the second is the figure of Mary, one of whose feasts we celebrate today. She, along with Joseph, were the first teachers of their son in the ways of faith: she who would have taught Jesus his first childhood prayers and taught him about the customs of their Jewish forefathers. She would have had a thing or two to tell him about courage and of trusting in God even when it could bring ridicule and persecution. And she most likely taught Jesus all of this pointing to her own personal experience of trusting---of trusting the words of an angel even though doing so would have meant personal embarrassment and possibly her execution.

What is interesting is that the words of the brave mother from the first reading could have been Mary’s own words to her Son: “Son, I do not know how you came into existence in my womb; it was not I who gave you the breath of life, nor was it I who set in order the elements of which you are composed…yet God will give you the breath of life because you disregard yourself for his sake.”

We owe a lot to our parents and those who are and have been parent figures to us. On this week of thanksgiving, we remember them and lift them up to God in prayer. And we who are parents and who are parent figures are reminded that God entrusts us with an awesome task of nurturing what we’ve been given—our faith---and of handing down the faith, just as the king in today’s Gospel parable entrusts his servants with gold coins and calls them to increase what they’ve been given. For this we also give God our thanks for entrusting us with the privilege of sharing in his own mission.

Sacramento welcomes Soto

2007-11-20T13:54:00.000-08:00

The faithful of Sacramento have welcomed their new co-adjutor Bishop Jaime Soto, an auxiliary from the diocese of Orange, at a special Mass of welcome yesterday.

Approximately 1,300 guests packed the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament in Sacramento for the two-hour bilingual Mass.

"We are delighted you are young, vigorous, bright and wise -- you are just what we need. You are well prepared to lead us in ministry to our large Hispanic population and also in working toward unifying and celebrating our multicultural reality," said Bishop William Weigand of Sacramento.

And for his part Soto remarked:
"This is my prayer -- while we worship together, work together, study and pray the Scriptures together, discern and deliberate together God's call, work hand in hand to bring God's saving charity to others, strive together for a just world where peace prospers -- may we always reverence one another as brothers and sisters, saving the joy and encouragement of our communion in Christ."

priest with a past appointed as pastor

2007-11-20T13:49:00.000-08:00

Imagine that your pastor who has diligently served your community for over 20 years is soon to retire. In his place a priest is appointed who is known to you and your community: having served at your parish as parochial vicar a couple of years ago, initiating new ministries there, and serving effectively and with dedication at other parishes in your diocese for several years.

Then just several weeks before the new priest is to assume the pastorship, a few folks begin distributing fliers after Masses on Sunday with startling information: that the newly appointed priest was arrested 8 years ago for lewd conduct.

More information about this emerge from the local newspaper: that the priest after the arrest went to counseling for several months, that the charges against him were dropped after counseling, that no one was actually involved in the incident–no minor and no adult--except for the arresting officer, and that there has been no incident since the arrest.

Well, this is what is presently going on at a parish in the SF East Bay, at the Catholic Community of Pleasanton.

The retiring pastor as well as the Bishop have both voiced their support for the newly appointed priest. "For seven years [the new appointee, Padraig Greene] has been a most effective minister, without negative incident," writes the pastor in the parish bulletin.

And the Bishop, Allen Vigneron, writes: "Repentant and desiring to put his life back in order, Father Greene spent several months dealing with this dark moment through extensive therapy and a program of spiritual renewal....The Diocese of Oakland, as an expression of our belief in the forgiveness and redemption God offers to all people, sponsored Father Greene in this program."

Meanwhile, the folks at SNAP [Survival Network of Those Abused by Priests] continue to hand out copies of police and court records after Masses on Sunday.

No doubt this is a difficult time for their community. But perhaps there is an opportunity for folks in the parish to air their concerns, and for the pastor and the new appointee to listen and to reassure.

If this had happened at your community how would you respond?

60 years: "the ornament and lodestar of the Crown"

2007-11-19T19:35:00.000-08:00

Sometimes a couple would come to me saying, “Father, we’re celebrating our wedding anniversary soon. We’ve been married so many years and we’d like to ask you to bless our marriage.”

Usually I’d ask them if we could have the blessing at one of the scheduled parish Masses if possible. Not only is it suitable to commemorate such an event with the Eucharist, especially if the couple has drawn much strength from it throughout their marriage, but it is also fitting that the community celebrates something like this---a long, resilient marriage that has stood the test of time: something that’s becoming more and more an exception these days. My hope is that this also inspires the other married couples out there witnessing the blessing to carry on.

Today the British nation did exactly that, celebrating the 60th wedding anniversary of their Queen and her Duke. It can't be easy to remain committed as they have with the glare of the global spotlight on them as three of their own children found out; but Elizabeth and Philip have done it. And because of this, we too celebrate it here because theirs too is an echo of that voice from Eden.

At today's service in Westminster Abbey to mark the anniversary, these words penned for the occasion by the British Poet Laureate Andrew Motion entitled "Diamond Wedding" were read:

Love found a voice and spoke two names aloud---
two private names, though breezed through public air---
and joined them in a life where duty spoke
in languages their tenderness could share.

A life remote from ours because it asked
each day, each action to be kept in view,
and yet familiar in the trust it placed
in human hearts, in hearts remaining true.

The years stacked up and as their weight increased
they pressed the stone of time to diamond,
immortal-mortal in its brilliant strength,
a jewel of earth where lightnings correspond.

Now every facet holds a picture-glimpse:
in some, the family faces and the chance
for ordinary talk and what-comes-next;
in others, shows of pomp and circumstance.

And here, today, the diamond proves itself
as something of our own yet not our own---
a blaze of trust, the oneness made of two;
the ornament and lodestar of the crown.

Elizabeth and Philip during their honeymoon
in Broadlands in Hampshire, England.

Back to Broadlands 60 years later.

from the California preservationist John Muir (1838-1914)

2007-11-19T16:29:00.001-08:00

Climb the mountains
and get their good tidings.
Nature's peace will flow into you
as sunshine flows into trees.
The winds will blow their own freshness into you,
and the storms their energy,
while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.