On the Margins

"On the Margins" from KBVM.fm January 22, 2012

2012-01-19T12:38:00.000-08:00

Click here for this week's reflection on the Gospel

for Sunday, January, 22, 2012

Scroll down the page on the "audio archive"section on KBVM website until you see, "On the Margins" and click on this Sunday.

"On the Margins" from KBVM.fm and hour interview

2012-01-13T16:32:00.000-08:00

"On the Margins" on radio KBVM.fm is now available on-line. Please listen to my weekly broadcast in the archives section of the station's website. Listen to this weekend's homily for Sunday, January 15, 2012.

Also, I was on radio live this past Tuesday. I spoke about Saint Andre and the naming of our parish. This is listed on the "In Person" section of the archive. This is an hour long interview.

Tune in now every weekend on-line.

CLICK HERE for the interview and this week's "On the Margins"

Blessings,

Ron

Saint Andre Bessette: Feast Day, January 6, 2012 Part 6

2012-01-06T04:02:00.000-08:00

(This is a six part series leading up to January 6, the Feast Day of Saint Andre Bessette, the patron of our parish community. Read my ten part series from the 2010 under the section of my blog: Brother Andre)

On Sunday, August 16, 2009, our parish community dedicated and blessed the icon of Christ the Healer for our renovated worship space. Archbishop John Vlazny presided over the Eucharist and dedication. The entire parish community processed around the block to present the image of the healing Christ to the four corners of the world. With profound solemnity and prayer, every person present in the procession realized our need to be witnesses to Christ's healing love in every aspect of our culture and beyond.

Our community bears witness to Christ's love not only in art but in action. We connect with nearly thirty high schools, colleges, nursing schools and seminaries to invite students to realize the needs of people surviving poverty. We invite them to know that our faith compels us into service in the world without judgment or condemnation of any individual. The stories of suffering create for us a deep humility of prayer for every volunteer, student and parishioner.

Our faith in Christ as members of the Catholic Church is not private. Our posture of faith is bold and open, inviting and inclusive. Our volunteers serve from all walks of life and we invite them to walk with us in our faith and service. We all learn a profound humility from our reliance on God when we are unable to fix or solve the issues of poverty, mental illness and severe loss. We are grounded on the four corners of our block in faith and action but both are felt deeply beyond the parish community.

Brother Andre said, "It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the most beautiful pictures." His simple prayer revealed great healing to many people in his day. He also founded Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal, Canada. This is the largest shrine in the world dedicated to Saint Joseph. His humble prayer created great change for many people and his personal devotions became a source of public prayer.

Today, January 6, we celebrate the patron of our parish community, Saint Andre Bessette. Today is the memorial of his death in 1937. Over one million people processed to his funeral in the cold Montreal winter. We stand on our block still longing for healing, still praying in our hearts for the needs of the entire world. We witness to volunteers, students and other community partners that we are centered in God's love and compelled from that love to serve people most in need of hospitality, healing and hope.

Saint Andre Bessette, pray for us.

(Note: We have copies of the documentary, "God's Doorkeeper, Saint Andre of Montreal" available in our front office for viewing. Our parish is featured in the documentary of Saint Andre Bessette. The document was produced in 2010 from Salt and Light Catholic Media in Toronto, Canada.)

Saint Andre Bessette: Feast Day, January 6, 2012 Part 5

2012-01-05T04:52:00.001-08:00

(This is a six part series leading up to January 6, the Feast Day of Saint Andre Bessette, the patron of our parish community. Read my ten part series from 2010 under the section of my blog: Brother Andre)

Our parish community strives to connect the prayer of the Church with dedicated service of people. We celebrate Mass with honesty and intention which calls each member to serve people in need. We are feed by God in our small chapel on the corner of 6th Street and Burnside and we welcome people every morning to be nourished with food, companionship and nonviolence.

Every year on Holy Thursday, we wash feet during the Mass, the ritual prayer of the Church. We also wash feet every Wednesday in our hospitality which connects us to Jesus' request to not only be feed at the altar of the Eucharist but also to wash the feet of people in need.

Members of our staff begin our hospitality center every morning reflecting on the upcoming Sunday Gospel that will be proclaimed at Mass. We pray for people who will fill our upstairs center and then learn a deep humility by caring for people, offering clothing and food, hygiene products and haircuts, bus tickets and a kind conversation.

Brother Andre lived from a deep devotion to the Mass and to the saints. He prayed for the intercession of Mary and Joseph to care for people who were ill and living in chronic fear and pain. He often spent the nights in prayer offering the suffering of people whom he had met during the day to God. He slept only a couple of hours a night because of his great devotion to God and his love for people who came to him in their suffering.

We connect our prayer and service by praying for people who have been murdered in our neighborhood. For the past ten years, after a murder occurs in Old Town, our parish community processes from Sunday Mass into the streets to pray for the victim and for peace. We are compelled by the love of God and the suffering of our neighbors to take our prayer out of the chapel confines and into the brutal issues of the streets. At the conclusion of our prayer we also pray that we will never have to pray on the streets again.

Saint Andre Bessette models for our parish community how to trust God in the midst of suffering and poverty. Brother Andre believed in his heart that God alone can heal people who feel worthless and abandoned. We strive in our parish community to put that belief into practice in so many different ways during our prayer to God and our service to people.

Saint Andre Bessette: Feast Day, January 6, 2012 Part 4

2012-01-04T04:26:00.000-08:00

Our neighborhood is desperate for healing. Answers to long term poverty and heartache elude us on a daily basis. Our parish community walks with people in the mystery of human suffering. Our faith provides solace when our efforts fail, when human trial is beyond our expertise, when our answers fall short. Our parish community relies on a power greater than our selves to make sense of human tragedy and anguish.

Alfred (Andre) Bessette was born on August 9, 1845. He was a sickly child and by the time he was twelve years old, he was orphaned. He experienced poverty, loss and hardship. He professed his vows in the Congregation of Holy Cross in 1872 even though the community was reluctant to receive him because of his illiteracy and poor health. He developed a great devotion as a child to Jesus Christ and to Saint Joseph. When he was assigned to become the porter at the college, the gift of healing became evident to those he welcomed. The first written testimonies of cures attributed to his prayers were published when his was 31 years old.

Brother Andre received 600 people a day asking for healing. Many people were cured of their physical ailments and many others were brought to a deeper faith in God. Healing happened in many ways through his forty years of answering the door at the college.

Saint Andre Bessette becomes a model for us of hospitality and healing as we base our ministry in the sacraments of the Roman Catholic Church. The mission of the Gospel challenges us to welcome to stranger, feed the hungry, clothe the naked and visit the imprisoned. Healing happens when community is formed, when our reliance on God is celebrated, when we turn to God for the answers we so desperately seek. We live and pray in the mystery of addictions, mental illness and long term poverty.

Photo: We celebrate the Sacrament of Anointing of the Sick at each Mass on Wednesdays and on the first Sundays of the Month. This is one aspect of our healing ministry at Saint Andre Bessette Church.

Saint Andre Bessette, pray for us.

Saint Andre Bessette: Feast Day, January 6, 2012 Part 3

2012-01-03T03:59:00.000-08:00

(This is a six-part series leading up to January 6, the Feast Day of Saint Andre Bessette, the patron of our parish community. Read my ten-part series from 2010 under the section of my blog: Brother Andre.)

Many present organizations and service agencies in our Old Town community were founded by various Roman Catholic communities. For example, Blanchet House began serving food from the faith of former University of Portland students and clergy. Transition Projects and Sisters of the Road had their origins in the social teachings of the Church and several other non-profit organizations created models of hospitality for people in our neighborhood.

For many years, our parish community hosted Loaves and Fishes and the MacDonald Center. Both agencies found new homes prior to 2002. Now the MacDonald Center, founded by Rev. Richard Berg, CSC, which opened in 2000 continues just a block away.

Since 2001, our parish has sponsored a hospitality center in our building. The mission of welcoming the stranger is rooted in the message of the Gospel and the living out of the Eucharist. Hospitality is a radical acceptance of people. We cannot fix people's longterm suffering or take away the violence people deal with every day. We can offer the basics of life, call people by name and create a safe environment for a few hours a day.

Hospitality is the message of Saint Andre's life as well. He served as the Porter at Notre Dame College in Montreal, opening the door to people, listening to people's stories. The grace that Andre was given was that he also was an agent of healing for many people. In our day, we believe that hospitality is also a grace and model of healing. We accept the stranger, provide a serving of food and offer a place of rest. Andre's life continues in our community as we learn the complexities of people's stories and pray through the suffering so many people experience.

Saint Andre, pray for us.

Saint Andre Bessette: Feast Day, January 6, 2012 Part 2

2012-01-02T04:26:00.001-08:00

The first priest of the Congregation of Holy Cross to serve as pastor of the Downtown Chapel was Reverend Richard Berg, CSC who began his ministry in the late 1980's. He served until 2001. During the Provincial Chapter of the Indiana Province in 2000, the Holy Cross community decided to make the Downtown Chapel a commitment of the community. In 2001, Reverend Robert Loughery, CSC was appointed pastor of the Downtown Chapel as the first pastor in this new agreement between the Archdiocese of Portland and the Congregation of Holy Cross. He served as pastor until 2010.

In July 2010, Reverend Steve Newton, CSC was assigned as pastor to the Downtown Chapel. The name change of the Downtown Chapel to Saint Andre Bessette Church serves as a sign of the commitment of the Congregation of Holy Cross to the ministry of people living in poverty and surviving homelessness, mental illness and addictions. The presence of Holy Cross also makes the commitment of education and formation for people serving other people in the issues of social justice and nonviolence. The Congregation of Holy Cross also serves the University of Portland and Holy Redeemer Church in Portland, Oregon.

On Sunday, October 17, 2010, Brother Andre Bessette, the first member of the Congregation of Holy Cross was canonized a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Brother Andre

was also the first male to be canonized from Canada. His simple life and ministry of healing provides for our parish community a patron that certainly lived a life identifying with suffering and poverty, with illness and homelessness. This moment in our parish community of changing our identity, our name, is significant for our parish and very significant for the Congregation of Holy Cross.

This photo was taken on Sunday, October 17, 2010 during our parish celebration of Brother Andre's canonization in Rome. The photos of Brother Andre and the relic are now a part of our worship space.

Saint Andre Bessette, pray for us.

Saint Andre Bessette: Feast Day, January 6, 2012 Part 1

2012-01-01T06:44:00.000-08:00

The Downtown Chapel began in 1919 as an outreach to sailors returning from World War I. The original Catholic worship space provided sacraments and the basics of life to men who were struggling to find work and a way back into civilian life.

In 1943, the Downtown Chapel became a parish of the Archdiocese of Portland. The new name was Saint Vincent de Paul Church. The two names remained as the identity of the parish even in the many physical moves of the church. Today, we are housed in the fifth location of the parish worship space.

The two names of the parish remained confusing for many people. Many people did not know that the Downtown Chapel was a Catholic community. The name Saint Vincent de Paul was confused with the Saint Vincent de Paul Society.

In January 2011, the Archdiocese of Portland changed the name of the parish to, "Saint Andre Bessette Church." This was at the request of the new pastor, Father Steve Newton, CSC. This was in honor of Brother Andre being canonized a saint in the Roman Catholic Church on Sunday, October 17, 2010.

Since that time, we have been gradually using the new name of the parish. This week in celebration of Saint Andre's Feast Day, we will promote the new name to all of our parishioners and community partners.

In the past several years, we have remodeled the worship space and the exterior of the building. The new exterior sign will be installed in a couple of months. This photo shows the remodeling process from several years ago, but is still an image of our renaming our parish community, "Saint Andre Bessette Catholic Church."

Feast of the Holy Family: December 30, 2011

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One of the deepest desires of being human is to belong. This desire wrestles with our hearts for all of our lives. Many people never find the love of their dreams or feel they belong to something greater than themselves. This desire fights within the hearts of people who have been abused or neglected. People living on the streets know firsthand that belonging is a desire that may never be fulfilled.

This feast of the Holy Family is celebrated today in order for all people to experience belonging in God's fidelity and love. We do not imitate the perfect family of Jesus, Mary and Joseph. We all receive Christ in our lives in order to know firsthand that we belong in God's love. In our baptism, water is thicker than than blood.

We celebrate this feast so that we will all learn to reach out to people who do not feel they belong to anyone. We are compelled in Christ Jesus to be instruments of Gospel fidelity, love and acceptance. We embrace the man sleeping at our door and we welcome the lost, the fragile and the weary. We are the family of God. God is among us now, today calling us in love. We belong to God and to one another.

Merry Christmas 2011

2011-12-25T07:18:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Blessings on this Christmas morning.

The "Portrait Project" is a celebration every year where we invite a professional photographer to create portraits of our guests for Christmas. People are given two photographs to send to family or friends. This is our staff photo for Christmas.

Our staff of the Downtown Chapel for 2011-2012.

Kelly, Fr. Steve, Eddie, Jeremy, Ron, Andy, myself, and Lindie.

Blessing of the Manger Scene: Christmas Eve 2011

2011-12-24T10:47:00.000-08:00

Blessing of the Manger Scene

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Be Light in the darkness, O God

Shatter our moments of despair, we pray

Curse the path of sin and discouragement, we pray

Open our eyes to your truth and love, we pray

End the nightmares of war and violence, we pray

Comfort our friends living on the streets, we pray

Console the fragile, the tired and the hopeless, we pray

Gladden the lives of the desperate poor, we pray

Restore hope for all in active addictions this night, we pray

Jesus, come among us on the margins of life, we pray

Jesus, enliven our path with voices of angels, we pray

Jesus, help us shepherd your presence to the outcast, we pray

Jesus, we all belong in our love and mercy, we pray

Living Christ, be born among us in our poverty of spirit, we pray

Living Christ, be born in our fear, we pray

Living Christ, be born in our service, we pray

Living Christ, be born in our journey to eternal life, we pray

Our parish community will pray this litany tonight at our 5:00pm Mass. I invite you to pray for our people where God makes his home among the marginalized.

Reverend A. Mark Illig

2011-12-21T16:30:00.000-08:00

Rev. A Mark Illig

I received word today that my classmate, Mark Illig died. He was ordained for the Diocese of Buffalo after spending eight years in formation at the University of Notre Dame. Mark and I met when he was seventeen and I was eighteen, starting our freshman year in 1974. He died in his sleep in this Advent season.

Mark was a comedian. He did standup comedy at weddings and told the same jokes for years. Every phone conversation began reminiscing of college stories and a retelling of his very familiar jokes. I laughed every time as if they were fresh and brand new. He cracked me up.

Beyond the joke telling, I learned a great fidelity about prayer from Mark. He suffered from diabetes for many years. He never wanted to take care of himself and that was certainly the case when he got sick. Through all his ailments he was a deep man of prayer. He was a pastor to many souls, a friend to people who were frail and elderly. He spent his priesthood in parishes and also celebrated Eucharist in a cloistered Carmelite convent. Mark had a call-in radio show and counseled many people on-air and in person. Mark understood that pastoral ministry was for the weary and weak.

One of the greatest gifts Mark gave to his parishioners was that of healing. On Wednesday evenings he anointed hundreds of people. Miracles happened in Buffalo. Many couples that were told by doctors they could not have children became pregnant after prayer in the community. I heard from Mark that over 80 babies were born after the couples came to pray with Mark. Dozens of people were healed of various cancers. These were the stories that Mark told me over the years. Mark told me that some of them were written down in the parishes.

Every time I spoke with Mark he told me that he was proud of me and the writing I am doing for the larger church beyond Portland. Those words were important for me to hear after laughing yet one more time over his jokes on the phone. His words to me were always a vehicle to healing.

I loved Mark Illig. He was a dear friend and brother priest. Pray for him. He was 55 years old and very young at heart. I pray for his healing spirit to continue among us.

Mark, pray for us.

Fourth Sunday of Advent 2011

2011-12-17T14:32:00.000-08:00

Fourth Sunday of Advent

December 18, 2011

Dear Friends,

Luke 1: “… Then the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God.”

Peter left a phone message today at 8:15am. He called back later and simply asked me, “Is everything going to be alright?” I assured him everything would be fine. Peter calls me on most days as well as other people who support him. Peter is my age, mentally ill and he teaches me how to pray even when I do not want to pay attention. Peter reads my heart on most days.

Peter’s question is on the hearts of so many people at this time of year. Yesterday, I facilitated another Personal Poverty Retreat. I am struck by the struggles of all us to move through the despair and pain that settles into our lives no matter our backgrounds or education. The individuals on the retreat held up a deep desire to one another to find healing in God. So much uncertainty, ill health, emotional turmoil, challenges beyond our talents and life-long loneliness forms all of our lives. This is real life and this is our adult experience of faith.

I am deeply consoled as I listen to an angel’s voice respond to Mary in the Gospel for this weekend. I pray for the consolation to be heard for miles around. Fear settles into our hearts and can make a permanent home during this time of year. A friend is wrestling with sexual identity; another is waiting to hear about his father’s health. Our guests from the streets are cold, anxious and worried about staying warm and finding a meal. Our parish is shelter for fear, a place where honesty can bring about a new spirit.

The voice and consolation of an angel may come from a stranger in need or a person who sits in silence. Our common prayer gives voice to our fear and a new hope on which we cling.

"What you have" from Ministry and Liturgy Magazine

2011-12-08T09:44:00.000-08:00

Click here to read my Christmas article, "What you have" in the October issue of Ministry and Liturgy Magazine. Blessings to all of you during this Advent and Christmas season.

Personal Poverty Retreat openings for December 16, 2011.

2011-12-05T09:53:00.000-08:00

I have more openings for the Personal Poverty Retreat on Friday, December 16th. We begin at 8:30am until 9:00pm.

If you are interested, please let me know. Check other dates on the "retreat" section of the blog.

Personal Poverty Retreats at the Downtown Chapel:
The Personal Poverty Retreats are a 13-hour immersion into the issues of homelessness, poverty, mental illness and addictions. They provide a hands-on experience of working in our hospitality center, Mass, tour of the neighborhood, group discussion and serving in our evening hospitality center. The honorarium is $25.00 per person. Please contact Fr. Ron for more information: raab@downtownchapel. org

"Finger Pointing" from Ministry and Liturgy Magazine

2011-11-29T13:48:00.000-08:00

Click here to read my latest article in the November issue of Ministry and Liturgy Magazine.

Competing Voices from Ministry and Liturgy September 2011

2011-11-11T08:37:00.000-08:00

Click here to read my article from the September issue of Ministry and Liturgy Magazine.

"The Glittered Dead" from Ministry and Liturgy Magazine

2011-08-14T16:39:00.000-07:00

Click here to read my latest article from Ministry and Liturgy Magazine.

"Lost Among Translations" from Ministry and Liturgy

2011-07-08T20:20:00.000-07:00

Click here to read my latest article, "Lost Among Translations" from Ministry and Liturgy Magazine, June/July 2011.

Street Prayer for the Murdered

2011-07-03T05:49:00.000-07:00

Today we will once again process from our small chapel into the streets after Mass. We will again pray just two blocks from the sacred sanctuary to end the violence on our urban streets. John was murdered last Saturday evening on the corner of Davis and Sixth. I have not kept adequate records over the years, but I think John’s murder is the ninth time we have prayed as a community that violence be washed from the sidewalks and hatred be swept into the gutters for good.

We will pray in the heat of summer near midday for the people locked in violence and addictions in the dark of night. These holiday weekends bring even more terror than usual. People from the suburbs come to our neighborhood with time and money. People on social security and disability just received their monthly checks this weekend. Loss of jobs, hopelessness has compelled many to give up on sobriety. These are the issues for our continuing procession to the streets after our procession to the altar for communion.

Today also marks the seventh anniversary of my mother’s death. My mother, Rosemary would have been 90 years old this week on July 8. I am reminded today as well about an event that happened at the gravesite on the day of her burial.

After the closing prayers at her grave, a woman in a bright red dress ran up to me. She held my hand close to her breast. She told me she was a seer. She whispered to me that she felt my mother’s passing and that I did not need to know her name. She then proceeded to tell me that my mother wanted me to persevere in my priesthood. The older, kind woman still holding my hand also told me that my mother loved the white flowers we all had for her, but that she preferred pink. She then left without another word.

As I gazed down to the casket on the bright July morning, I saw the mound of white flowers from all the arrangements from relatives and friends. My only thought was that my mother’s favorite color was pink.

I cannot give up on my priesthood amid the violence, addictions and hatred on our streets even though I have no solid answers for any of the issues we face. My mother’s request is not just for me. Her request is for all of us not to give up on the faith that calls us from the safety of the sanctuary into the tragic events that claim our neighborhood. I will process with our community from the dimly lit chapel today mindful of my mother’s request to keep praying for all who suffer and for all who have died.

Rosemary, pray for us.

John, pray for us.

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

2011-07-02T08:41:00.000-07:00

The Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Gospel: Matthew 11:25-30

“Come to me,” echo as some of the most consoling words of Jesus in the gospels. This invitation beckons our weariness and pain to his heart and life. Jesus invites every person into a life of rich relationship of grace and love. This relationship does not only occur at the end of our lives but now in the life we live.

I hear very often in our parish community the fear people have about being in relationship with this church, or any church, or even listening to many of the words of the gospel. People hear from pulpits, reputations, teachings, history and public opinion that they will be judged if they enter the doors of any worshipping assembly. They feel shame. They feel alone and unworthy. They feel discouraged and judged by so called believers.

People suffer and carry many burdens. These words of Jesus should form us who have the responsibility of living the love Jesus carries for every person. His humble heart holds our suffering, doubt, discouragement no matter if we enter a church building or not. I pray that our community could live with the deep understanding that Jesus’ invitation is raw, open and meaningful for every person.

1. What in your life needs to rest in this invitation of Christ? What hurts and disappointments do you carry alone?

2. How have you experienced Christ’s love in the past? How his this invitation to come to his heart formed your life, decisions and relationships?

3. How can you become a means for passing this invitation on to people who most need to hear love, acceptance and hope in their lives? Can you rest in God’s love this week? Can you hold in your own prayer, the people who feel judged by the church?

Catholic Press Association Awards

2011-06-28T09:38:00.001-07:00

M5a Best Regular Column Spiritual Life

First Place

Novalis, Toronto, Ontario, “Wheels Of Misfortune; Saint Doorkeeper; Advent: A Housing Project” by Ronald Raab, C.S.C.

Father Raab’s columns are marked by strong, clear, and vibrant writing. His descriptions are earthy yet deeply spiritual creating vivid word pictures that fill the reader’s imagination. His stories connect everyday life experiences with profound connections and meanings of the sacred. These columns reflect theology made real and invite readers to a deeper spiritual life.

B5 Liturgy/Book

Third Place

Real World, Real Worship, Rev. Ron Raab C.S.C, World Library Publications, Franklin Park, Ill.

Wonderful personal reflections on the intersection of lit- urgy and life from the perspective of a pastor of a city par- ish serving the poor and those on the margins of society. Very creative method of forming ministers.

Articles from Celebrate! Magazine:

Brother Andre: Saint Doorkeeper

Wheels of Misfortune

Advent: A housing project

I am very grateful to my editors at Celebrate! Magazine and World Library. I deeply appreciate Sarah Gregory who edits all my written words and even my thoughts about my projects.

New book! The Unsheltered Heart, Cycle B

2011-06-22T05:17:00.000-07:00

The Unsheltered Heart: An at-home retreat, Cycle B will be available from Ave Maria Press in September. This is the second book in the Advent series.

Pentecost Prayer for Sunday, June 12, 2011

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Pentecost Prayer

Sunday June 12, 2011

On the Solemnity of Pentecost we bring the true yearnings of our hearts to the Holy Spirit. We ask for everything. Nothing is left uncared for or neglected in prayer. I write this litany and ask you to add to this sacred prayer the needs of your life and your perspective on the world. Next week we will be able to pray our prayers together.

Response: Ancient Spirit of God, refresh and renew us!

For people recently baptized and confirmed in faith…

For people who have left faith communities…

For people who no longer trust the Church…

For people who have been marginalized by faith communities…

For people who serve our faith communities…

For people longing for deep and lasting faith…

For people who feel unworthy of this earth because of self-loathing…

For people chained by mental illness and thoughts of suicide…

For people emotionally and sexually abused by families and clergy…

For people sentenced to prison because of mental illness…

For people ignored by society because of diseases of the mind…

For people living in shells of isolation and loneliness…

For people surviving multiple addictions…

For people existing under bridges and abandoned buildings…

For people who will never find adequate employment because of addictions…

For people relapsing this day…

For people holding on to recovery by only a breath…

For people who support and walk with wounded addicts…

For people who struggle to find heartfelt peace…

For people lost in war and national violence…

For people searching for survival in a foreign land…

For people grieving veterans and loss of dreams…

For people charged to bring peace among nations…

For people living among gunfire and insecurity…

For people living with chronic pain…

For people existing in fear because of undiagnosed diseases…

For people without adequate healthcare…

For people fearing loss because of illness…

For people longing for genuine healing in mind and body…

For people who care for our ill…

For people who have lost spirit and joy…

For people in transitions because of job loss…

For people who feel trapped in relationships…

For people who have lost family support…

For people needing to rebuild their lives because of storms and floods…

For people grieving family members and loved ones…

For people locked in past regrets…

For people fearful about death…

For people crippled by hoarding of relationships and wealth…

For people who long for a happy death…

For people who trust the Holy Spirit…

"She keeps calling out" from Ministry and Liturgy Magazine

2011-05-07T12:44:00.000-07:00

She keeps calling out

I so admire the Canaanite woman. I always look forward to hearing her strong voice calling out to Jesus and the disciples (Matthew 15:21-28). She was crippled in fear because of her daughter’s illness. She desired the healing touch of Jesus even though she was not a lost sheep of the house of Israel. The strong-voiced mother clamored at Jesus’ side to change his mind about who could receive his love.

CLICK HERE TO READ MY LATEST ARTICLE IN THE MAY ISSUE OF MINISTRY AND LITURGY MAGAZINE.

New dates for Personal Poverty Retreats

2011-05-05T14:00:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends,

I have just posted a new page on my blog called, "retreats." You will notice the new dates for the 2011-2012 season of the Personal Poverty Retreats. We begin our seventh year of these retreats and if you interested in participating on one of these dates, please let me know.

Blessings,

Ron

"Urgent Care" from Ministry and Liturgy Magazine April 2011

2011-04-15T10:40:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE TO READ MY LATEST ARTICLE: "Urgent Care" from Ministry and Liturgy Magazine April 2011

Every morning our parish welcomes lost street pilgrims into dry shelter. Our staff and dozens of volunteers strip away our preconceived notions about stinky people and jobless wanderers. We hear the frightening outbursts from homeless sufferers of undiagnosed mental illness and we welcome all people to rest awhile. Our acceptance of these forgotten people barely holds back the waves of citywide discussions of the undesirable homeless teens, the filthy street urchins playing guitars while sitting on public sidewalks. Our open-door hospitality barely sways public opinion about the lazy, crazy and filthy people who do nothing for society. We welcome people because stomachs are empty, bodies are tired and naked, feet are dirty, wives are abused, jobs are lost and friends are still imprisoned. This is the urgent, daily work of hospitality in our parish community.

Palm Sunday: April 17, 2011

2011-04-12T09:46:00.000-07:00

GOSPEL

Procession before mass: Matthew 21:1-11

Passion Gospel: Matthew 26:14-27

The complete text can be found on our web page, link to US Bishops

The chief priests and the elders persuaded the crowds to ask for Barabbas but to destroy Jesus. The governor said to them in reply, "Which of the two do you want me to release to you?" They answered, "Barabbas!" Pilate said to them, "Then what shall I do with Jesus called Messiah?" They all said, "Let him be crucified!" But he said, "Why? What evil has he done?" They only shouted the louder, "Let him be crucified!"

When Pilate saw that he was not succeeding at all, but that a riot was breaking out instead, he took water and washed his hands in the sight of the crowd, saying, "I am innocent of this man's blood. Look to it yourselves." And the whole people said in reply, "His blood be upon us and upon our children." Then he released Barabbas to them, but after he had Jesus scourged, he handed him over to be crucified. Then the soldiers of the governor took Jesus inside the praetorium and gathered the whole cohort around him. They stripped off his clothes and threw a scarlet military cloak about him. Weaving a crown out of thorns, they placed it on his head, and a reed in his right hand. And kneeling before him, they mocked him, saying, "Hail, King of the Jews!" They spat upon him and took the reed and kept striking him on the head. And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the cloak, dressed him in his own clothes, and led him off to crucify him.

As they were going out, they met a Cyrenian named Simon; this man they pressed into service to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha (which means Place of the Skull), they gave Jesus wine to drink mixed with gall. But when he had tasted it, he refused to drink. After they had crucified him, they divided his garments by casting lots; then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And they placed over his head the written charge against him: This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.

Two revolutionaries were crucified with him, one on his right and the other on his left. Those passing by reviled him, shaking their heads and saying, "You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself, if you are the Son of God, (and) come down from the cross!"

Likewise the chief priests with the scribes and elders mocked him and said,

"He saved others; he cannot save himself. So he is the king of Israel! Let him come down from the cross now, and we will believe in him. He trusted in God; let him deliver him now if he wants him. For he said, 'I am the Son of God.'"

The revolutionaries who were crucified with him also kept abusing him in the same way. From noon onward, darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon. And about three o'clock Jesus cried out in a loud voice, "Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?" Which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" Some of the bystanders who heard it said, "This one is calling for Elijah."

Immediately one of them ran to get a sponge; he soaked it in wine, and putting it on a reed, gave it to him to drink. But the rest said, "Wait, let us see if Elijah comes to save him." But Jesus cried out again in a loud voice, and gave up his spirit. And behold, the veil of the sanctuary was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth quaked, rocks were split, tombs were opened, and the bodies of many saints who had fallen asleep were raised.

And coming forth from their tombs after his resurrection, they entered the holy city and appeared to many. The centurion and the men with him who were keeping watch over Jesus feared greatly when they saw the earthquake and all that was happening, and they said, "Truly, this was the Son of God!"

There were many women there, looking on from a distance, who had followed Jesus from Galilee, ministering to him.

Among them were Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of James and Joseph, and the mother of the sons of Zebedee. When it was evening, there came a rich man from Arimathea named Joseph, who was himself a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus; then Pilate ordered it to be handed over. Taking the body, Joseph wrapped it (in) clean linen and laid it in his new tomb that he had hewn in the rock. Then he rolled a huge stone across the entrance to the tomb and departed. But Mary Magdalene and the other Mary remained sitting there, facing the tomb.

The next day, the one following the day of preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, "Sir, we remember that this impostor while still alive said, 'After three days I will be raised up.' Give orders, then, that the grave be secured until the third day, lest his disciples come and steal him and say to the people, 'He has been raised from the dead.' This last imposture would be worse than the first. "Pilate said to them, "The guard is yours; go secure it as best you can." So they went and secured the tomb by fixing a seal to the stone and setting the guard.

THEME

Today we all face horrific sorrow. The journey to the cross bears the weight of every human heart lost in poverty, illness and grief. Our human loss is borne on the shoulders of Jesus. I see the faces of human suffering that lead nowhere. The life-long addict can no longer bear his loneliness. The wounded veteran can no longer tolerate his body pain. The cancer survivor tells me her disease has returned. These are the faces of suffering and these lives bear unimaginable pain.

Holy Week prepares us for compassion. Jesus journeyed to his death but he encounters love along the way. Veronica washes the blood, sweat and weariness from his face. The cross is lifted even for a brief moment from his shoulders. Some women weep for him. His mother receives his pain. Today we also remember how suffering is carried on the shoulders of people called into serving other people. These are the faces of holiness.

Sit with all the unanswerable questions in your life this week. Contemplate the infinite suffering of the world. At the same time be united with Christ who receives all suffering on his shoulders. Live this week in the silence that life can change. Be rooted in the stillness that death gives way to new life. Close your eyes, calm your body and breathe into the mystery that Christ is the face of love.

GUIDANCE

1. Jesus, the way of suffering seems ________________.

2. Jesus, help me carry the cross for people who ______________.

3. Jesus, open the gates from death so ________________.

PRAYER

Jesus,

We scoff at you and scorn your presence.

We turn our faces from the love you offer.

Our lips are parted with mockery.

This week bring us back to your journey.

Invite us again to trust your fidelity.

Do not abandon us in our selfishness.

Give us patience in human suffering.

Our hearts do not wait in peace.

Our joy comes in the waiting.

Show us your face and we shall be saved.

Amen

Fifth Sunday of Lent: April 10, 2011

2011-04-06T10:33:00.000-07:00

GOSPEL

John 11:1-45

Now a man was ill, Lazarus from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. Mary was the one who had anointed the Lord with perfumed oil and dried his feet with her hair; it was her brother Lazarus who was ill. So the sisters sent word to him, saying, "Master, the one you love is ill." When Jesus heard this he said, "This illness is not to end in death, but is for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it." Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So when he heard that he was ill, he remained for two days in the place where he was.

Then after this he said to his disciples, "Let us go back to Judea." The disciples said to him, "Rabbi, the Jews were just trying to stone you, and you want to go back there?" Jesus answered, "Are there not twelve hours in a day? If one walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if one walks at night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him." He said this, and then told them, "Our friend Lazarus is asleep, but I am going to awaken him." So the disciples said to him, "Master, if he is asleep, he will be saved." But Jesus was talking about his death, while they thought that he meant ordinary sleep. So then Jesus said to them clearly, "Lazarus has died. And I am glad for you that I was not there, that you may believe. Let us go to him."

So Thomas, called Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, "Let us also go to die with him." When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, only about two miles away. And many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him; but Mary sat at home. Martha said to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. (But) even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise." Martha said to him, "I know he will rise, in the resurrection on the last day." Jesus told her, "I am the resurrection and the life; whoever believes in me, even if he dies, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?" She said to him, "Yes, Lord. I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who is coming into the world." When she had said this, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying, "The teacher is here and is asking for you." As soon as she heard this, she rose quickly and went to him. For Jesus had not yet come into the village, but was still where Martha had met him.

So when the Jews who were with her in the house comforting her saw Mary get up quickly and go out, they followed her, presuming that she was going to the tomb to weep there. When Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said to him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." When Jesus saw her weeping and the Jews who had come with her weeping, he became perturbed ⁷ and deeply troubled, and said, "Where have you laid him?" They said to him, "Sir, come and see." And Jesus wept. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him." But some of them said, "Could not the one who opened the eyes of the blind man have done something so that this man would not have died?" So Jesus, perturbed again, came to the tomb. It was a cave, and a stone lay across it.

Jesus said, "Take away the stone." Martha, the dead man's sister, said to him, "Lord, by now there will be a stench; he has been dead for four days." Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believe you will see the glory of God?" So they took away the stone. And Jesus raised his eyes and said, "Father, I thank you for hearing me. I know that you always hear me; but because of the crowd here I have said this, that they may believe that you sent me." And when he had said this, he cried out in a loud voice, "Lazarus, come out!" The dead man came out, tied hand and foot with burial bands, and his face was wrapped in a cloth. So Jesus said to them, "Untie him and let him go." Now many of the Jews who had come to Mary and seen what he had done began to believe in him.

THEME

Take the stone away. I so desperately want healing for people. Martha and Mary wanted life for their brother and blamed Jesus for not being present when Lazarus died. Jesus was in the death of Lazarus. I must believe Jesus is in the suffering of people even though I do not have the ability to heal their situations or fix their lives. Take away all that keeps me from not believing.

Lazarus, come out. This great command changed the lives of everyone present with Mary and Martha. This courageous command enabled people to not only see Lazarus but to understand who Jesus was in the world. I long to believe all that is dead in me can come back to life in the love and presence of Christ. I must put my trust in Christ who receives the suffering of anxious people.

Untie him and let him go. This is the prayer for all who follow Christ. This command is our mission to undo all that binds people to poverty, loss and neglect. This is our call in Christ to enable the freedom of real people. This command goes beyond selfishness to true charity, beyond grief to lasting peace. This command changes the face of death for every person to new life in Christ Jesus.

GUIDANCE

1. Jesus, take the stone away so that_______________.

2. Jesus, heal all that is dead in me so _________________.

3. Jesus, release us from suffering and injustice so___________.

PRAYER

Jesus,

Take away the stone of my resistance.

Hear my voice from the depths of my bitterness.

Allow me a place among the living.

I wait for you in half-hearted trust.

My soul longs for you in the dark.

My face is tight with anger and disappointment.

You untie my fear.

I settle into your mercy.

I wake up from the death of my soul.

My face rejoices in your redemption.

Amen

Holding On: From Ministry and Liturgy Magazine

2011-04-05T09:32:00.000-07:00

Ministry and Liturgy Magazine, March 2011

Holding On

I hold much fear within my body. I struggle to find my way out of the self-doubts and worries I carry with me from the past. Fear clings to me when new situations demand more of my attention or concern for others. I even realize how selfish I can be when one door closes in my life. Waiting for new life makes me impatient and restless. I wait for the depths of Pentecost in my own life. CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE:

Fourth Sunday of Lent: April 3, 2011

2011-04-02T06:52:00.000-07:00

GOSPEL

John 9:1-41

As he passed by he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?" Jesus answered, "Neither he nor his parents sinned; it is so that the works of God might be made visible through him. We have to do the works of the one who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world." When he had said this, he spat on the ground and made clay with the saliva, and smeared the clay on his eyes, and said to him, "Go wash in the Pool of Siloam" (which means Sent). So he went and washed, and came back able to see.

His neighbors and those who had seen him earlier as a beggar said, "Isn't this the one who used to sit and beg?" Some said, "It is," but others said, "No, he just looks like him." He said, "I am." So they said to him, "(So) how were your eyes opened?" He replied, "The man called Jesus made clay and anointed my eyes and told me, 'Go to Siloam and wash.' So I went there and washed and was able to see." And they said to him, "Where is he?" He said, "I don't know."

They brought the one who was once blind to the Pharisees. Now Jesus had made clay and opened his eyes on a Sabbath. So then the Pharisees also asked him how he was able to see. He said to them, "He put clay on my eyes, and I washed, and now I can see." So some of the Pharisees said, "This man is not from God, because he does not keep the Sabbath." (But) others said, "How can a sinful man do such signs?" And there was a division among them. So they said to the blind man again, "What do you have to say about him, since he opened your eyes?" He said, "He is a prophet."

Now the Jews did not believe that he had been blind and gained his sight until they summoned the parents of the one who had gained his sight. They asked them, "Is this your son, who you say was born blind? How does he now see?" His parents answered and said, "We know that this is our son and that he was born blind. We do not know how he sees now, nor do we know who opened his eyes. Ask him, he is of age; he can speak for him self." His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for the Jews had already agreed that if anyone acknowledged him as the Messiah, he would be expelled from the synagogue. For this reason his parents said, "He is of age; question him." So a second time they called the man who had been blind and said to him, "Give God the praise! We know that this man is a sinner." He replied, "If he is a sinner, I do not know. One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see." So they said to him, "What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?" He answered them, "I told you already and you did not listen. Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?" They ridiculed him and said, "You are that man's disciple; we are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but we do not know where this one is from."

The man answered and said to them, "This is what is so amazing, that you do not know where he is from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners, but if one is devout and does his will, he listens to him. It is unheard of that anyone ever opened the eyes of a person born blind. If this man were not from God, he would not be able to do anything." They answered and said to him, "You were born totally in sin, and are you trying to teach us?" Then they threw him out. When Jesus heard that they had thrown him out, he found him and said, "Do you believe in the Son of Man?" He answered and said, "Who is he, sir that I may believe in him?" Jesus said to him, "You have seen him and the one speaking with you is he." He said, "I do believe, Lord," and he worshiped him.

Then Jesus said, "I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind." Some of the Pharisees who were with him heard this and said to him, "Surely we are not also blind, are we?" Jesus said to them, "If you were blind, you would have no sin; but now you are saying, 'We see,' so your sin remains.

THEME

Blindness sees more than darkness. The man without vision still teaches us how to see the Savior. People perceived his difference to be sin. Jesus perceived his difference to be love. I know that my blindness leads me to God. On most days I am afraid that God will cure me and that I will have to change. I see in the blind man’s face the hope that we all will see God and find our way into new life.

Some people do not know their own blindness. I often experience people experimenting with their medications for mental illness because they just want some control over their lives. I meet teens that believe the streets will be kind to them. I listen to people with depression who believe they will never find a place in society. So many people living in generational poverty believe their lives are useless anyway.

The blind man puts a new face on blindness. He longed for the presence of Jesus and he was not afraid to find new life. In Christ’s light, all things are possible. The face of Christ opens eyes that have been closed by selfishness, depression and abuse. I wait today for the freedom to see beyond my worry and sin. Today, salvation comes among us in our blind spots.

GUIDANCE

1. Jesus, my eyes are cast down and so ______________.

2. Jesus, help me believe that even my blindness can see _________.

3. Jesus, you change the expression on my face because now I see______.

PRAYER

Jesus,

Your recipe of saliva and dirt washed blindness away.

Your love restored the blind man’s heart.

His sin was washed away even when other’s blamed him.

Anoint my blindness with your love.

Wash my guilty past and lead me to restful places.

My blindness waits for your loving light.

My heart prepares for new insight.

You reveal every inner blindness and doubt.

Now my vision sees goodness and kindness.

I do believe, Lord. I want to see you.

I do believe, Lord.

Amen

Third Sunday of Lent: March 27, 2011

2011-03-23T13:43:00.000-07:00

GOSPEL

John 4:5-42

He had to pass through Samaria. So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. Jacob's well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon. A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, "Give me a drink." His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. The Samaritan woman said to him, "How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?" (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered and said to her, "If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, 'Give me a drink,' you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." (The woman) said to him, "Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?"

Jesus answered and said to her, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." The woman said to him, "Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water." Jesus said to her, "Go call your husband and come back." The woman answered and said to him, "I do not have a husband." Jesus answered her, "You are right in saying, 'I do not have a husband.' For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true."

The woman said to him, "Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem." Jesus said to her, "Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem

You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth." The woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything." Jesus said to her, "I am he, the one who is speaking with you." At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, "What are you looking for?" or "Why are you talking with her?" She left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, "Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?" They went out of the town and came to him.

Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, "Rabbi, eat." But he said to them, "I have food to eat of which you do not know." So the disciples said to one another, "Could someone have brought him something to eat?" Jesus said to them, "My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. Do you not say, 'In four months the harvest will be here'? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. The reaper is already receiving his payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. For here the saying is verified that 'One sows and another reaps.' I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work."

Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, "He told me everything I have done." When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. Many more began to believe in him because of his word, and they said to the woman, "We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world."

THEME

People wait for deep satisfaction. So many people thirst for acceptance and joy because they have never felt human love in this world. They bounce from one relationship to another, from one craving to the next. Their sad faces betray them. All people are invited to the well today. Jesus is here at high noon or at any time we are ready to sit with him. He invites us all into the deep, healing waters of love. Something new is inside our hearts to heal our faces.

I view people at many other shallow wells. A young veteran is passed out on the street from an all night drinking binge, his face bloody and swollen. Some runaway teens crave the next sex high. A single mother keeps going back to a relationship that remains abusive and hurtful. So many people carry their hearts like a fragile jar waiting for fulfillment. These wells seldom sustain any heart.

I am so deeply thirsty. This encounter at the well is intensely personal. Jesus is there to wash my heart and cleanse every person’s soul. Jesus still knows everything of our pasts and tells us so. I wait today in prayer for my parched heart to know acceptance and be retrieved back into his heart. I wait for love within to heal me. I will tell others of the miracle.

GUIDANCE

1. I am embarrassed to sit at the well today because______.

2. Jesus, look me in the eyes and tell me_______________.

3. Jesus, show me the waters within so I may tell others about__.

PRAYER

Jesus,

I have tasted my tears of regret.

The salt of failure and loneliness is on my lips.

My heart, like a fragile vessel, is emptied on the sand.

I know your water is deeper than my pain.

Your mercy more sustaining than my fear.

I want you to listen to my silence.

My heart is now awakened to your voice.

Deep love settles into the dry lies and arid sin.

Send me out to spread the news of hope-washed love.

Amen

Second Sunday of Lent: March 20, 2011

2011-03-16T09:47:00.000-07:00

GOSPEL

Matthew 17:1-9

After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them; his face shone like the sun and his clothes became white as light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with him. Then Peter said to Jesus in reply, "Lord, it is good that we are here. If you wish, I will make three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud cast a shadow over them, then from the cloud came a voice that said, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him." When the disciples heard this, they fell prostrate and were very much afraid. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, "Rise, and do not be afraid." And when the disciples raised their eyes, they saw no one else but Jesus alone. As they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, "Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."

THEME

I long to catch the bright light. People mingle outside our chapel in the morning cold. I pray that someday our sidewalks can be empty and silent. I beg God to heal people and transform their suffering so that they can just survive the day. People suffering mental illness crave a medication that will take the unending loneliness from their hearts. The jobless stretch their imaginations that someday employment will change everything. The addicts desperately want the light of sobriety.

The mountains of faith are steep and suffering seems uphill. On these flat sidewalks I view the journey to Jesus’ dazzling face. He gives us a glimpse of how his suffering will change us. I beg God to transfigure the dirty faces and runny noses of poverty. The cold streets wait for all of us to be invited to a mountaintop so we may find the true person of Christ. When we do there will be dancing in the streets and tents set up so that pure joy will make a home among us.

I will not turn my back on your brilliant face. I want to stay with you forever. In my prayer today, I want to make a home under the tent of your radiant love. Please hear the pleas of people who have climbed mountains of great suffering and who still roam the flat streets. Send all of us down the mountain and into the cold because your work will be forever within us.

GUIDANCE

1. Jesus, I long to see the radiance of your face so_________________.

2. Come among us, Jesus, and transfigure the suffering of ______________.

3. Help your people find an inner radiance of love so __________________.

PRAYER

Jesus,

The eyes of the humble are drawn to your face.

There is nowhere else to turn in utter loneliness.

Take us by the hand and walk us up the mountain.

I wait for you throughout the night.

In such darkness be my help and shield.

Hope is not found but in your eyes.

Turn your dazzling gaze toward my weariness.

The climb up the mountain of suffering exhausts me.

Let light shine from my weary bones.

Allow your mercy a home in my eyes.

Amen

Foot Crossing from Ministry and Liturgy Magazine

2011-03-12T06:16:00.000-08:00

Here is my latest article in Ministry and Liturgy Magazine. "Foot Crossing" tells the story of our ministry of foot care at the Downtown Chapel.

Click here to read the article:

First Sunday of Lent: March 13, 2011

2011-03-11T04:35:00.000-08:00

First Sunday of Lent

March 13, 2011

GOSPEL

Matthew 4:1-11

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was hungry. The tempter approached and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become loaves of bread." He said in reply, "It is written: 'One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes forth from the mouth of God.'" Then the devil took him to the holy city, and made him stand on the parapet of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down. For it is written: 'He will command his angels concerning you and 'with their hands they will support you, lest you dash your foot against a stone.'"

Jesus answered him, "Again it is written, and ‘You shall not put the Lord, your God, to the test.'" Then the devil took him up to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world in their magnificence, and he said to him, "All these I shall give to you, if you will prostrate yourself and worship me." At this, Jesus said to him, "Get away, Satan! It is written: 'The Lord, your God, shall you worship and him alone shall you serve.'" Then the devil left him and, behold, angels came and ministered to him.

THEME

I view poverty-laden faces every day. The dark circles of sleepless nights seem carved under the eyes of our morning guests. The unshaven faces of travelers cry out for friendship and simple affirmation. The greasy haired woman and the shrieking baby tell me that domestic violence has left a permanent mark on souls and faces of our community. The foul-breathed addict comes close to my face wanting just a little understanding and morning coffee.

These faces are not evil. These faces show me that our society needs to change many deserts that have allowed such poverty. Lent rouses in me such dissident fear. I feel in my heart the challenges that people experience and I am often powerless in the face of such long-term suffering. I am being tempted to look the other way when I come face to face with people who threaten me because of my life of privilege.

Jesus stood his ground being tempted by evil. Jesus overcame the devil’s lure so to discover his real life, purpose and mission. This face-to-face encounter is holy ground. As I face my demons in this Lenten season, I long to speak up for everything that diminishes people’s lives. Guard my lips and rouse my soul that justice may come from the desert places of fear within me. The faces of struggling people reveal the deserts where grace must overcome sin, loss and fear.

GUIDANCE

1. Fear tempts my heart because____________.

2. During this Lenten season I must face the injustice of __________.

3. The Spirit longs to heal me so _____________________.

PRAYER

Jesus,

Your love is revealed among sad faces.

Your perseverance continues as I stand up for the downtrodden.

You confronted evil and love was revealed.

Show me the right path through fear-filled deserts.

Wash the guilt caked on my soul.

Strip me from self-deception.

I wait for your promised mercy.

I count myself among the ancient sinners.

Part my lips with only praise.

Send joy to me when the desert blooms with your Resurrection.

Amen

"The Faces of Friday" article from vocations' blog

2011-03-10T08:48:00.000-08:00

The Faces of Friday, our version of the Stations of the Holy Cross, is linked on the vocations blog for the Congregation of Holy Cross. Check out our Facebook page for more details of The Faces of Friday. You may also order the DVD from the Downtown Chapel.

Click here to read the article:

Ash Wednesday March 9, 2011

2011-03-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

ASH WEDNESDAY

Wednesday, March 9, 2011

GOSPEL

Matthew 6:1-6, 16-18

Jesus said to his disciples: “Take care not to perform righteous deeds in order that people may see them; otherwise your will have no recompense from your heavenly Father. When you give alms do not blow a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets to win the praise of others. Amen, I say to your, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your almsgiving may be secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites who love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on street corners so that others may see them. Amen, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go to your inner room, close the door, and pray to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will repay you. When you are fasting do not look gloomy like the hypocrites. They neglect their appearance so that they may appear to have received their reward. When fasting, anoint your head and wash your face, so that your may not appear to be fasting, except to your Father who sees what is hidden will repay you.

THEME

I present my greasy forehead to God today. I already feel like a hypocrite since Jesus just told us in the Gospel to wash our faces when we begin a fast. I feel the grey ashes embedded in my pores and I wonder what this act will call me into during this holy season. The image of the cross claims me. This liturgical branding is for everyone to see. I cannot turn back. I receive the cross of the Savior on my face and I will spend the Lenten season exploring the cross within my own heart.

My dirty forehead tells the story of how my heart will be challenged to pray, my body encouraged to fast and my selfishness invited to serve. These disciplines are wearisome and lonely but the ash-mark on my body tells me I am not completely alone. The cross is a visible reminder that we belong to one another and to God. I will witness the faces of other believers work through their sorrow, loneliness and pain. We are the faces of God’s beloved.

I sit in my quiet room and still hear in my soul the roar of people surviving poverty and who are in severe need. I locked the door and yet feel unsafe in my own loneliness. My empty hands wait to be told how to serve and how to receive love. My face is now washed but the mark on my forehead remains from my baptism. I close my eyes in prayer and wait for joy to be written on my face.

GUIDANCE

1. God, I feel the ash-cross on my forehead and I ______________.

2. God, open my heart to this season of Lent so _______________.

3. Allow my heart and emotions to heal because _______________.

PRAYER

Jesus,

I wait for a clean heart.

My face has been branded today and now I wait in silence.

My spirit longs for your presence.

I wear my hypocrisy on my skin.

I am seldom satisfied with my life and I live in unending fear.

My lips speak ill words.

My restless heart is reluctant in Lent.

I wait for joy to return to my eyes and my perspectives.

I sing your praise from my sin-parched lips.

Amen

Retreat/Speaking Schedule for Lent

2011-02-28T18:04:00.000-08:00

In the next few weeks I will be offering retreats in several parishes. Here is my retreat and speaking schedule through Lent.

Friday, March 4: Personal Poverty Retreat here at the Downtown Chapel from 8:00am until 9:00pm.

Saturday, March 5: Lenten reflection on homelessness and poverty at St. Clare parish from 9:00am until 12:00pm.

Sunday, March 6: Presentation on Lent for RCIA at 8:30am at the Downtown Chapel

Tuesday, March 8: Presentation before the showing of the new documentary on Saint Andre Bessette which will take place at the Buckley Center at the University of Portland at 7:00pm.

Thursday, March 17-Sunday, March 20: Attend the RE Congress in Los Angeles.

Saturday, March 26- Wednesday, March 30: Parish Mission at Saint Jerome Parish in Largo, Florida. I will be preaching at the weekend Masses and two sessions per day on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday.

Friday, April 1: Personal Poverty Retreat for a group from Juan Diego Parish which will take place at the Downtown Chapel from 8:00am until 9:00pm

Saturday, April 2- Wednesday, April 6: Parish Mission at the Madeleine Parish in Portland, Oregon. I will be preaching the weekend Masses and presenting Sunday, Monday, Tuesday evenings with a parish Reconciliation Service on Wednesday evening.

Also, I have a Lenten At-Home Retreat on our website for each Sunday of Lent.

Here is a link to the retreat: Click here

Thank you. Know of my prayer during this holy season of Lent and beyond.

Ron

"Food for Friday" from Ministry and Liturgy Magazine

2011-02-13T14:36:00.000-08:00

This is the latest article from Ministry and Liturgy Magazine. This is from the February issue. The article is about Good Friday.

Click here to read my latest article.

Street Prayer for the Murdered

2011-02-12T13:39:00.000-08:00

On Sunday, February 13, our parish community will again hit the streets with our communal prayer. Two people have been murdered in our neighborhood in these past two months. Robert Williams died on the corner of 6th and Everett. Alan Tompkins was found dead in an apartment building near by of a stab wound to the chest.

We will evoke Christ the Healer on our corner of the block. We will gather outside after Mass near our Stations of Mission to pray for peace and healing. We will remember all who have died in violence.

I have lost count of how many times we have offered our prayer on the concrete sidewalks. I believe we have remembered eight people.

This is the litany we will pray. I have posted this before but is worth another round of reflection and prayer for all who are suffering, for all who ache for peace and freedom.

Response: SAVE US O GOD

From the brutality of murder and violence…..
From the hardship of poverty and loss…..
From the addiction of drugs and alcohol….
From the fear of isolation and hardship….
From the evil of war and hatred……….
From the corruption of sin and darkness….
From the terror of gunshots and stabbings…
From the suffering of illness and disease…..
From the coldness of loneliness and self-pity…
From the bitterness of homelessness and empty pockets…
From the need of prostitution and pornography….
From the snare of mental illness and all discrimination..
From the desperation of pride and jealousy….
From the silence of apathy and neglect….
From the wounds of sexual molestation and abuse…
From the deserts of ignorance and suffering…
From the arrogance of racism and greed…
From the burden of grief and despair…
From the torture of broken promises and empty commitments…
From the doubt of selfishness and insecurities…..
From the web of egoism and self-centeredness….
From the outrage of revenge and the death penalty…
From the seduction of materialism and gossip…
From the sin of gluttony and avarice……
From the cloud of sexism and ageism ….
From the trap of cynicism and lack of forgiveness….
And from all evil….
And from all evil….
And from all evil……

May every nation on earth find peace in our day. May we never have to pray this litany of prayer again.

Litany for Evening Prayer

2011-02-08T04:32:00.000-08:00

Last evening, members of professed religious communities of women and men gathered at the Cathedral to celebrate our consecrated commitments. This year, the Congregation of Holy Cross hosted Evening Prayer in honor of Saint Andre Bessette. I prepared this litany for the occasion. Two choirs from the University of Portland with additional musicians from our parishes led our Evening Prayer for the Day of Consecrated Life. Archbishop Vlazny presided and preached.

Saint Andre of Montreal; open our communities to the hospitality of Christ Jesus...

To the lost sinner and the illiterate friend…

To the abandoned child and to the aging widow…

To the weary traveler and the teenage prostitute…

To the bashful student and the struggling teacher…

To the hungry stranger and runaway teen…

Saint Andre of Montreal; open our communities to the healing of Christ Jesus…

To people suffering from every addiction…

To people with every incurable disease, illness and affliction…

To our friends, relatives and neighbors longing for reconciliation…

To every religious community that seeks peace and non-violence…

To nations locked in war and violence…

Saint Andre of Montreal; open our communities to the mission of Christ Jesus...

To students seeking a new education…

To people discerning their vocations …

To the renewal of professed religious life and fidelity in marriage…

To the next generation discovering faith and service...

To our missionaries in foreign lands…

To a greater commitment to prayer and love of God…

Saint Andre of Montreal; open our hearts to the love of Christ Jesus…

To the care of Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary…

To the consolation of Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows…

To the Cross of Christ, our Only Hope…

Reflection: Sunday February 6, 2011

2011-02-05T15:10:00.000-08:00

Reflection: Sunday February 6, 2011

“Share your bread with the hungry, shelter the oppressed and the homeless; clothe the naked when you see them and do not turn your back on your own. Then your light shall break forth like the dawn and your wound shall quickly be healed…if you bestow your bread on the hungry and satisfy the afflicted then light shall rise for you in the darkness and the gloom shall become for you like midday.” Isaiah 58

I spent the past two days with seminarians from Mount Angel Seminary. Every winter the first year students come to the Downtown Chapel for a Personal Poverty Retreat. This immersion into the issues of poverty opens many eyes and perspectives of these young students. Each day a group of seven joined us for work in our hospitality center, a tour of the Catholic root system of the neighborhood and a discussion about the issues of homelessness, addictions and mental illness.

The students came from various cultures and backgrounds, from San Francisco to Thailand, from working construction to running a business. Each group did not know what the day would bring. They were not told of what they would experience here at the Chapel.

I was deeply struck that several students never realized that people surviving poverty had anything to do with their discernment about a vocation. One young man was deeply humbled by the gratitude he experienced handing out hygiene products to people. He realized his own inability to be grateful. Another student commented that he always thought he needed to bring Jesus to people. He realized during the day that he needed to stop talking and just listen to the stories of people. He found his way in a new light of listening and genuine hospitality.

By the end of the day the students realized that sharing bread also feeds them. Clothing the naked also heals their lives and perspectives. I watched as the seminarians concluded that their own light shines when they converse with people who have no power or possessions. The equal ground of love, compassion and goodness creates a place where every person can shine.

The sacred texts today open us to the command of Jesus that our light must shine before the world. This light pierces the darkness when we have the courage to walk with people who challenge us, with people who seem so different from ourselves. Being the Light of Christ means going into unknown darkness that is dimmed by hardship and trial and the reality of everyday life.

The students left here with a new focus. They will now bring to the seminary an intention about not complaining about the food that is served them. Perhaps they will even think about how they use their money and how many possessions they carry with them. They left here with a new vision about how to live in the light of people who suffer.

1. How are you being called to search for the Light of Christ within you?

2. How is the Light dimmed in our world through addictions, poverty and injustice?

3. How do you discern your own vocation to be Light for others?

4. How is God calling you into the darkness to be hope for others?

At-Home Lenten Retreat 2011

2011-02-04T05:37:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends,

Lent begins on March 9, 2011. I have prepared an At-Home Lenten Retreat for the A-Cycle Sunday Gospels for this Lenten season. The retreat begins Ash Wednesday, March 9.

I hope you will enter into this retreat for your own life and the life of your worshipping community. Please offer me observations along the way about the retreat itself and how you are progressing through the season of conversion.

I am offering this retreat early so that you may passed it on to other individuals and communities before Lent begins. I will also tape a version of the retreat for KBVM.fm radio. You may download the retreat in its entirety from our website. www.downtownchapel.org

CLICK here for the At-Home Lenten Retreat 2011.

Blessings,

Ron

"On the Margins" from KBVM.fm

2011-02-02T19:34:00.000-08:00

Greetings,

Podcasts from my radio program On the Margins for January and February, 2011 are now available on my blog. Just go to the "podcasts" section of the blog and scroll down. These are also heard on KBVM.fm on Saturday's at 7am and Sunday's at 8am.

In the next few weeks I will be offering podcasts of homilies and short interviews on my blog. I will keep you informed when they will be available. I am looking forward to this new adventure.

Thank you for listening. Keep praying for our ministry at the Downtown Chapel.

Ron

Homily for Sunday January 30, 2011

2011-01-29T12:46:00.001-08:00

Homily: Sunday January 30, 2011

Gospel: Matthew 5:1-12

Every weekday volunteers and staff gather around the large table in our hospitality center to begin the morning in prayer. Andy usually invites people into a peaceful silence praying for non-violence. He then asks someone to read the gospel for the upcoming Sunday. People are given the opportunity to express what they hear in the gospel.

I was so touched last Monday listening to people’s responses to today’s gospel. One volunteer told us that when he was preparing to become Catholic he opened the Bible and that Matthew’s Beatitudes was the passage that he first came upon. Another said that if he could choose a story that best describes our mission at the Downtown Chapel it would be the Beatitudes. A woman described Mary as the humble servant who reflected such contradictions. A young volunteer said that people do not seem blessed in the moment. People suffering with mental illness do not always seem blessed by their disease. And finally Andy pointed out that Jesus gathered his disciples on a mountain to teach them something new. Every day we bring people off the streets up to the second floor to offer them a different perspective.

For the past few weeks of Ordinary Time, the scriptures have shown us Jesus’ authority after his Baptism. Jesus is commissioned by the Father to heal, to forgive and become the new teacher. These Beatitudes are the new Commandments. Jesus here is the new Moses. Especially in the Gospel of Matthew, Jesus’ authority as a teacher is expressed in these early passages. Mount Sinai gave Moses the Ten Commandments, and on this mountain Jesus steps into the tradition with words that are quite unexpected.

These sacred texts today are a mission statement of our parish community. I believe Jesus’ teaching on this hillside is the blueprint for every parish, in every generation. This Gospel is really the continuing memory of Jesus’ presence here among us. The poor are blessed and given a moment of dignity every morning. The meek are blessed and find their voices. The hungry find a bowl of food and a heart full of conversation. The Beatitudes become here a living memory of faith as we live out the mission of our parish community. Jesus expresses the reasons why we are here, why we pray and why we serve.

These Beatitudes also help us find our way through transitions in the parish. These messages of faith help us build continuity from generation to generation. This past year we said goodbye to Fr. Bob and welcomed Fr. Steve. We said goodbye to Shawn our musician and will welcome Patrick and his son Tim. Life moves on. People change and yet the mission remains rooted in the delicate lives of the weak, the disenfranchised and the marginalized. People seeking God and people surviving hardship are the holy anchors in our community.

Our parish community is also transitioning into a new name. We will become “Saint Andre Bessette Church.” This is not just a change of branding, a new logo or a fancy slogan. This name suggests that the Beatitudes themselves will be even more important as we live out our time here. The weak, the ill, the fragile speak of who we become. We have already known the name of Brother Andre Café on Friday evenings for the past twenty years.

Andre Bessette is the first member of the Congregation of Holy Cross to be canonized. He is the first native male saint in Canada. He himself was orphaned, ill all his life, illiterate, not lettered and spent his entire life welcoming people at the door. His devotion to Saint Joseph and to God’s healing became so strong because he understood suffering. He loved the weak, the ill, the outcast and the person in poverty. He listened to their stories and revitalized their faith.

In these months ahead we all will discover more about how we will live out the mystery of Christ’s Beatitudes and Andre’s healing. Fr. Steve will lead us through this process. We will engage one another in discussions. We will seek the silence of our own prayer. We will speak out on behalf of people we serve, people we love and people who need us. This will be the continuing memory of our vital community on 6^th and Burnside. Our name will be known by how we pray, how we act and how we accept people.

St. Paul says today in our second reading, “Consider your own calling, brothers and sisters. Not many of you were wise by human standards, not many were powerful…. Rather, God chose the foolish of the world to shame the wise and God chose the lowly of he world to shame the strong… so that no human being might boast before God.

Paul’s words express our continuing mission of our parish in Christ Jesus. We are the people who need God desperately because we simply do not know where to turn in our heartaches. We need God to humble us when we think we know the answers or become self-sufficient or self-willed. We need God to bring us to a simple mountainside and sit with us and remind us that the lowly shall show us our futures.

I invite you to spend time in prayer this week for this transition in our parish during these next months. Learn more about Saint Andre, allow the Beatitudes to speak to you in prayer. We are all called to live the message of mercy and to allow our hearts to be changed for genuine service to others.

Every weekday morning our staff and volunteers climb the stairs with people who are searching for simple community and a time out from the rain and cold. For a brief moment people are welcomed, called by name and given an opportunity to express themselves in art and conversation. This is the lived memory of Jesus. This is the mountainside so many people are looking for. This is the continuation of the Beatitudes where all are blessed and the meek inherit everything. No matter the name of our parish, no matter whom volunteers and no matter what changes, we are Jesus’ message to the world that mercy, peace and hope will be among us all.

Saint Andre Bessette, pray for us.

Baptism of the Lord: January 9, 2011

2011-01-08T09:24:00.001-08:00

Baptism of the Lord

Sunday January 9, 2011

Dear Friends,

“And a voice came down from the heavens saying, ‘This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”

The voice of the Father strikes me so deeply this week as we celebrate the Baptism of the Lord. In this voice rests the life of the Trinity. In this voice from heaven, Jesus is given authority on earth to express healing, love, comfort and communion with people who believe. This voice of heaven commissions all of us to follow the path toward the Father into the Kingdom of Heaven.

We all have an opportunity to speak hope to others. Our voices become miraculous instruments of blessing when we realize our profound connection to God. We have many choices in our daily activities. We may use our voice to condemn others or to build up other people and set them free. We express our belief in God when we speak words of love and compassion to people suffering from the many burdensome experiences of life. We all have choices as how to use our physical voices to express the love of heaven.

This morning I carried bags of groceries from the car to the chapel. I noticed a woman carrying several plastic bags and struggling to find her way down the block. She was crying and she was exasperated with her load and quandary. I stopped to ask her if she needed help. She said she had just been evicted from the apartment and did not even have time to call anyone for help. I listened for a while and invited her to our hospitality center at the chapel. I listened and quietly offered my voice of concern. I do not have the resources to solve her problems but I can offer a very brief word of hope.

As the Church celebrates the Baptism of Lord, how do you hear the voice of God calling you beloved? Can you hear God’s voice in your life circumstances? How does your own baptism challenge you on a daily basis? How can you offer a voice of love to other people today or this coming week?

Saint Andre Bessette: Feast Day, January 6

2011-01-06T05:26:00.000-08:00

Saint Andre Bessette

Opening Prayer for Mass, January 6

Lord our God, friend of the lowly,

you gave your servant, Brother Andre,

a great devotion to Saint Joseph and a

special commitment to the poor and afflicted.

Through his intercession

help us to follow his example of prayer and love

and so come to share with him in your glory.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,

who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, for ever and ever.

Amen

Click here for a link to an audio/written summary of Saint Andre

from Saint Anthony Messenger Press for January 6.

Please prayer for our parish community today and the Congregation

of Holy Cross as we celebrate the first feast day of our first saint,

Saint Andre Bessette.

"Lenten Rhythm" published in Ministry and Liturgy Magazine

2011-01-05T03:26:00.000-08:00

Here is the latest article published in the December issue of Ministry and Liturgy Magazine.

Click here to read "Lenten Rhythm"

Epiphany 2011

2010-12-30T03:49:00.000-08:00

Epiphany

Sunday January 2, 2011

I am convinced that people desire God. This awareness grows as I listen to people who struggle through another lonely Christmas. I hear people tell the human tale of not being satisfied with life, with the search for love and the depression that sets in at this time of year. Under the darkness that covers the earth, many people are blanketed with emptiness, doubt and the fear of being alone. In this search there is nowhere else to turn but toward the Light.

I see us struggle with the search for God. So many people will do just about anything not to name their desire for God. Instead, we take pride in our service to other people. We proclaim how grateful we are to not be like “those people” who line up on the street. I hear people admit how much they accomplish and how service to others makes them feel better. I listen to those conversations and realize our deep reluctance to accept the Light, to walk amid the God who changes us.

Some people easily admit their search for God but feel put down by members of the church. Others feel judged because of circumstances of divorce, promiscuity, addiction or anything else that makes us feel guilty or unworthy. Sometimes God is lost in the rules we put around our belief. Some believers have needlessly condemned many other people. In the center of such guilt and fear, the desire for God still comes to the surface.

The Epiphany marks our desire to search for God. A friend recently said that we celebrate Christmas because we are not yet done searching. This is the quest of the Magi following a star. We follow the Light because we do not know where to turn to heal the brokenness and to soften the claims that darkness puts on all of us.

We bring the gift of our selves, not gold, frankincense and myrrh. We bring to the Christ our inability to verbalize our desire for the Light. We bring to the Christ our guilt and frustrations about how we have lived and even felt judged by others. We bring to the Christ our passion for our future, to live daily in God. The gifts we bring to Christ are really planted in our hearts by God already. We have what we need. The Light is within us.

Epiphany claims our searching and opens our heart. I pray we do not back away from the invitation to step out of our darkness.

Blessings,

Ron

Christmas 2010

2010-12-19T18:02:00.000-08:00

Fourth Sunday of Advent

19 December 2010

Dear Friends,

Every day I learn a deeper trust in God. I have been serving here at the Downtown Chapel for nearly nine years. As Christmas approaches one more time, I am deeply touched by the generous work of the Holy Spirit here in our fragile human community. I receive what I am meant to receive when I trust in this community. When I struggle to make my voice heard or my decisions felt, I become more profoundly aware that the Holy Spirit is guiding us and giving us life. I just need to get out of the way and learn that God is born in me and in all of us.

This week I received a message from Corey who is in formation for a Franciscan community in the east. I am so proud of the fact that a member of this community is seeking religious life. I spoke with Paul today who is home from graduate school. He is seeking a doctorate in nursing and wants to write his dissertation on homelessness and health care. He is pursing this because he volunteered here a couple of years ago. Vincent has reconciled with a family member. Valerie is back from graduate school teaching me all about her first semester in graduate school in social work. We received an anonymous donation for 250 of my books to be handed out to volunteers and parishioners for Advent.

A woman came up to me in the communion line today crying because she just lost her mother. I have never seen her before but I noticed in her eyes all the brokenness of our community. I spoke with a friend who is struggling with a relationship. I heard another ask for healing. I laughed with another parishioner who so struggles in this season with profound loneliness. Shawn announced his departure as our music minister during Mass today. There are so many transitions, changes and struggles in our small community. This is also where Christ is born.

This is Christmas. The joys seem deeper and the struggles more debilitating. I want to tell you all that my heart is with you and my prayer is sincere. I am filled with gratitude, finally aware that I cannot change any of these events or heal any one of these lives. This is where Christ is still being born, still offering grace in the emptiness of wounded hearts. For everything in the season, all sadness and every joy, I am grateful.

Christmas comfort. Profound joy. My heartfelt prayer extends to all this Christmas.

Ron

Article from US Catholic Magazine: 2008

2010-12-14T11:21:00.000-08:00

Here is a link to the Advent article in US Catholic Magazine from 2008. The article appears on the cover of the US Catholic website in this present Advent season.

Click here to read the article: "A reading from the prophet Bonnie."

Saving Face: Article from Ministry and Liturgy 2008

2010-12-05T15:01:00.000-08:00

My father died ten years ago today. I have been reminiscing about his life and his death this weekend. Here is an Advent article from 2008 in Ministry and Liturgy magazine which remembers my father's face.

Click here to read the article, "Saving Face"

Advent Alarm

2010-12-04T14:45:00.000-08:00

Click here to read the article, "Advent Alarm" from the October issue of Ministry and Liturgy Magazine

Braidy Richelle Hunsberger

2010-11-30T18:36:00.000-08:00

Braidy is about six hours old in this picture. She was born

this morning in Mishawaka, Indiana. She is my niece's new

daughter. Blessings on Braidy Richelle Hunsberger. Welcome

to the world.

Review of The Unsheltered Heart:An Advent At-Home Retreat

2010-11-29T15:08:00.000-08:00

Linda Showman is a parishioner at the Downtown Chapel and teaches at Mount Angel Seminary. She wrote a review for my book, The Unsheltered Heart: An Advent at-home retreat. The review appears online for US Catholic Magazine.

Click here to read Linda's review.

Blessed: from Ministry and Liturgy Magazine

2010-11-23T10:56:00.000-08:00

Article reprinted from November 2010 issue of Ministry and Liturgy Magazine

Blessed

I regret many of the words that fly out of my mouth. The sarcastic one-liners, the zingers and the offensive phrases that effortlessly role off my tongue. I catch myself only when my comments have already hurt another person. I hear myself and then realize I had better options. I could have used words as precious instruments of blessing. Rather than being put-downs or the continuation of gossip, my words can build up people from their hurt or misfortune.

Click here to read the entire article

The Unsheltered Heart: On CSC blog

2010-11-17T09:34:00.000-08:00

Click here to read a new article on my book from the Holy Cross Vocations blog.

The Unsheltered Heart: Advent reflection group

2010-11-17T08:56:00.000-08:00

Please join us at the Downtown Chapel for an Advent discussion group. The group will reflect on the book, "The Unsheltered Heart: An Advent at-home retreat". We will meet after the 10:00am Mass beginning on Sunday, November 28. Blessings on the Advent journey.

Advent: A housing project

2010-11-11T04:54:00.000-08:00

Click here to read my latest article in Celebrate! Magazine on Advent 2010.

Rebroadcast of Documentary on Saint Andre

2010-10-30T16:24:00.000-07:00

Click here for Salt and Light Television

Salt and Light will present the documentary on Saint Andre at 7:00pm (PT), Sunday October 31.

Webinar on Tuesday, November 2 at Noon(PT)

2010-10-29T17:00:00.000-07:00

Click here to register for the webinar on Tuesday, November 2 at 12:00pm (PT)

"The Unsheltered Heart: Come Explore the Spiritual Riches of Advent with Ronald Patrick Raab, C.S.C."

Tuesday, November 2, 2010 3:00 PM - 4:00 PM EDT

Please join Ave Maria Press for this one hour webinar on my new book, "The Unsheltered Heart, an Advent at-home retreat"

Catholic Moments Podcast

2010-10-26T16:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to and interview about Brother Andre on Catholic Moments from CatholicMom.com

Click here for the interview.

The interview also covers the Unsheltered Heart, an Advent at-home retreat.

Real World Real Worship

2010-10-25T04:24:00.000-07:00

This is a booklet from World Library, the J.S. Paluch Company. This series of articles connects Sunday Mass and everyday life.

Real World Real Worship (click here)

You will never celebrate the Mass the same way after an encounter with the powerful essays featured in this book. A Holy Cross priest, Rev. Raab serves a population including the homeless, poor, and many marginalized by society. His reflections on the relationship between Sunday celebration and daily living are profound. Bonus reflection questions are included to assist in applying his thoughts to your own ministry.

US Catholic Magazine, "Door Man: Brother Andre Bessette, CSC

2010-10-19T05:54:00.000-07:00

My latest article from US Catholic Magazine: Click here

Here is my third article on Brother Andre. This will appear in the December issue of US Catholic Magazine from Chicago.

Litany of Blessing for the images of Andre

2010-10-17T14:00:00.000-07:00

(This litany was prayed at Mass today for the blessing of the relic and images of Saint Andre)

Blessing of Photographs of Saint Andre Bessette

Sunday October 17, 2010

Downtown Chapel

Cantor: Hear us, O God

People: Hear us, O God

Cantor:

Saint Andre of Montreal; open our doors to the hospitality of Christ Jesus …(response)

Open our doors to the lost sinner and the illiterate friend…(response)

Open our doors to the abandoned child and to the abused neighbor…(response)

Open our doors to the weary traveler and the teenage prostitute…(response)

Open our doors to people starving for daily food and friendship…(response)

Saint Andre of Montreal; open our doors to the healing of Christ Jesus…(response)

Open our doors to friends relapsing from heroin, cocaine and alcohol…(response)

Open our doors to people with every incurable disease, illness and affliction…(response)

Open our doors to adult friends living the affects of childhood sexual abuse…(response)

Open our doors to families living outside and surviving under bridges…(response)

Saint Andre of Montreal; open our doors to the hope of Christ Jesus...(response)

Open our doors to people stranded in valleys of undiagnosed mental illness…(response)

Open our doors to our bullied children considered weak and outcast…(response)

Open our doors to neighbors lost in thoughts of suicide…(response)

Open our doors to people jailed because of mental illness and homelessness…(response)

Saint Andre of Montreal; open our hearts to the love of Christ Jesus…(response)

Open our lives to the care of Saint Joseph, Husband of Mary…(response)

Open our suffering to the consolation of Mary, Our Lady of Sorrows…(response)

Open our doubt to the Cross of Christ, our only hope…(response)

Cantor: Hear us, O God

People: Hear us, O God

Cantor: Hear us, O God

People: Hear us, O God

Saint Andre of Montreal

2010-10-17T08:12:00.000-07:00

Saint Andre of Montreal

Today, our Brother Andre, now Saint Andre!

Let us all pray for healing within our own suffering, doubt and longing.

Saint Andre of Montreal, pray for us!

Articles on Brother Andre Bessette, CSC

2010-10-14T04:15:00.000-07:00

Catholic Sentinel about Brother Andre

Archbishop's column on Brother Andre

These are two articles from the Catholic Sentinel in Portland, Oregon about the canonization of Brother Andre Bessette, CSC.

I am most grateful to Archbishop Vlazny and to Ed Langlois for their coverage of Holy Cross and the canonization of Brother Andre.

Blessings,

Ron

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC: HOPE

2010-10-08T10:14:00.000-07:00

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC

Hope

Series: Number Ten

A twenty-something man limped to our front desk one morning to sign up for his routine of coffee, snacks and his monthly allotment of supplies. He gingerly approached the open window breathing heavily, his eyes and face blackened with bruises, his ripped clothing stained with blood and dirt. He requested just the basics of underwear and hygiene products, along with a new shirt and jeans. Our staff member jumped to her feet and asked him what happened. The street-warrior admitted that while sleeping in a doorway he had been beaten by a stoned teenager. He begged the on-duty staff member not to call the police or the ambulance because he had no money for any type of health care.

A middle-aged woman walked shyly into our parish lobby. Her years of severe depression weighed visibly on her rounded shoulders and tired body. She has been unable to find employment lately because of the lingering shadows of low self-esteem. She tries over and over again to feel better about her adult life, occasionally smiling and joining us for Sunday worship. Living in the present moment remains difficult because her childhood emotional and sexual abuse still causes threats of suicide and deep moments of feeling unworthy of life itself.

These raw stories are replicated daily at the Downtown Chapel. People’s lives are so complicated by abusive parents, lingering mental illness and people using drugs and alcohol to numb the pain of survival. Some years ago we invited a psychiatrist to help educate our staff on these many issues. He spent several hours deeply listening to us express the concerns of our ministry. He simply reminded us of our true role in people’s lives, to offer hope within community, to offer faith in the midst of suffering.

Sometimes it takes someone from the outside to remind us that we cannot fix someone’s abusive past or change their desire to sell their body. However, we can offer people a place of profound faith, of true and honest welcome, of genuine forgiveness and acceptance. We can welcome people when every other agency or center has turned them away. In other words, we can offer people hope.

Brother Andre surfaced hope in people’s lives. Thousands of people lined up to speak with Brother Andre because there was no other place for them to go with their bodily ailments and their weariness. Brother Andre welcomed everyone regardless of their pain. He touched their illnesses with prayer and sent them on their way with new hope. Even when people were not physically healed, they felt a deep sense of God’s tender mercy and love for them.

Brother Andre realized hope comes from embracing the Cross of Christ. “The more you suffer as you follow the Stations of the Cross, the closer you come to Jesus Crucified.” He never wanted to live without trials in his life. “In our prayers, we should not ask to be spared hardship; we should beg for the strength to bear it.” Brother Andre’s example still lives among us. He helps us realize the hope of Christ Jesus at the Downtown Chapel in every person who comes to us in need of love. We live boldly the motto of the Congregation of Holy Cross, “ The Cross is our only hope.”

The canonization of Brother Andre Bessette, CSC will take place on Sunday October 17, 2010 at the Vatican in Rome. Please join us for our Mass celebrating Brother Andre on Sunday October 17, at 10:00am at the Downtown Chapel.

Brother Andre, be our guide!

(Photo: Steve Scardina, St. Joseph Oratory, Montreal)

A foot in the door: A community modeled after Brother Andre Bessette, CSC

2010-10-07T14:47:00.000-07:00

(Published from Ministry and Liturgy Magazine, October 2010, Vol 37, Number8)

A foot in the door:

A community modeled after Brother Andre Bessette, CSC

The only outside doors to our parish building symbolize welcome and hospitality to our neighborhood in downtown Portland, Oregon. Members of our pastoral staff and volunteers tell stories of homeless people recommending the “red doors” to other people living on the streets. Many among the urban poor people in our neighborhood do not realize we are a Roman Catholic parish, but the bright red doors are known by everyone as the place to receive many of the essentials of life.

People queue up to receive clothing once a month or a laundry voucher once a week from our daily hospitality center. Some residents of the single-room occupancy hotels enter our doors to seek money for non-narcotic prescription medications, or stand in line for a flu shot clinic. Others wait at our entrance for coffee and donated food, excess from local restaurants and grocery stores. Some homeless women may sleep at our red doors during the night. Some drug dealers may urinate on our doors during any hour of the day. One local newspaper even shared a picture of someone who had vomited on a competitor’s newspaper at the entrance to our building. Our doors were then named the “Best Place to Puke” in Old Town, Portland, Oregon.

These sacred doors also lead to the chapel where we celebrate Eucharist every day. When we celebrate Eucharist we all realize the importance of our community so people may find hospitality and healing. Last February we announced to our Sunday assembly that Blessed Brother Andre Bessette, CSC will be canonized in Rome on October 17, 2010. The congregation applauded and cheered. Nearly everyone here knows that our community is a community that Brother Andre helps build.

I was standing at our open doors after that Mass and one of our parishioners came up to our pastor and said, “This is where we find Brother Andre, at these doors, in this community!” Indeed, we rely on the intercession of Blessed Brother Andre, because each day we are faced with undying suffering, with questions no one can solve and with ingrained pain that has not healed for generations.

I remember when I first stepped through our steel and glass threshold. I was overwhelmed by the body odor that had clung to the inside of the building. There is no pine-scented chemical that clears away such an odor. I do not even notice that smell anymore after nearly nine years at the parish. There are so many more important aspects of people’s lives to consider.

Blessed Brother Andre, CSC was a member of my religious community, the Congregation of Holy Cross. He died on the Feast of the Epiphany, January 6, 1937. His service to people long ago in need of healing, comfort and consolation continues in our parish as we welcome people living outside or who do not know where to turn because of their mental illness or in their inability to find sufficient health care.

I do not look to Brother Andre for simple solutions to the problems we face at our door. However, his life tells a tale of great faith and dedication. Alfred (Andre) Bessette was born thirty miles from Montreal, Quebec, in Canada on August 9, 1845, the eighth of twelve children. He was always sickly. His mother instilled in him a great love of prayer and dedication to Christ and a special loyalty to Saint Joseph.

Alfred grew up in poverty, especially after his parents died. As an orphan he never finished school. He was illiterate but memorized many passages from Scripture, especially the Passion narratives of Christ. The superiors in the Congregation of Holy Cross did not want to accept Alfred into the community because of his frail health and lack of education. A local pastor, Father Andre Provencal, convinced the Holy Cross superiors to accept Alfred Bessette as a member. He added a note saying, “I am sending you a saint.”

It was through great prayer and the help of friends that Alfred became Brother Andre. He desired a life of poverty, celibacy and obedience. His sole assignment within the community was to serve as the Porter at Notre Dame College in Montreal. His ministry at the door of the college became his path toward love and holiness. He never imagined or dreamed how his life would change or how others would respond to him.

Almost immediately, people were drawn to Brother Andre. He told many who were sick to ask Saint Joseph for help, or to attend Mass. He anointed the sick with special oil found in a lamp near the Saint Joseph statue. He rubbed people’s wounds with a blessed medal of the saint. People were cured of many ailments, diseases and sufferings. Many people began leaving their crutches, canes and prostheses at the college. Brother Andre believed strongly that God’s healing was available for every person surviving poverty.

Some members of the Congregation of Holy Cross criticized Brother Andre because of his ministry of healing and his devotions. Parents at the college feared that sick people would get too close to their children. Brother Andre never saw himself as a healer nor was he concerned in the slightest about his reputation. Andre recognized that healing happened not through him alone, but because people believed in the works of Christ and the intercession of Saint Joseph.

Several years ago a young Jesuit novice entered through our red doors to volunteer in our hospitality center. He noticed Brother Andre’s image hanging on the wall. The novice immediately recognized the image and told us that Brother Andre was his great-great-uncle. He told us a story of a relative going to see Brother Andre. She stood for hours in a long line. Finally she got the opportunity to hold Brother Andre’s hand and tell him that she was a relative from the United States. He told her to move along; his time was for people who really needed him. This story has stayed with their family for years. When relating the story, his relatives told everyone that Brother Andre was a curmudgeon, a cranky old guy who did lots of good things.

Indeed, Andre did not have time for people who were merely curious about him. His single-minded devotion to suffering people was evident well beyond the borders of Canada. He became friends with many people who believed in him and his life was rich with friendships even when he was exhausted from speaking with the thousands of people every week that wanted to see him.

I continue to learn much from the small-framed, pious man who was poor, orphaned and homeless. Our shared religious community, the Congregation of Holy Cross, is best known in the United States for higher education among the privileged. We are priests and brothers, educators in the faith, known for outstanding college football and living comfortable lives. That the frail, illiterate doorkeeper and barber, Brother Andre will become our community’s first official saint, is a great paradox. I pray that we all have the courage to understand his life and celebrate his sainthood.

The poor believed in Andre because he too was poor. He did not see his religious life as an opportunity to escape from poverty or from hard work. Andre’s hospitality was a lived example of Jesus’ desire to run after the one lost sheep even when he was exhausted and afraid. Christ’s command to search diligently for the lost coin is seen in Andre’s acceptance of people. Jesus’ request to ask for what you need, knock on the door with faith and seek always was the total life of Brother Andre.

I am challenged by Andre’s legacy as I stand at our parish doors. I am not economically poor and my faith often wavers from hearing stories of traumas I cannot heal. My greatest poverty comes in my sheer loneliness and deep sadness that I cannot heal the abuse people have suffered as children. I cannot mend their horrific memories. I do not have the power to repair people’s ability to keep a job. I possess no answers when people weep because they do not have love or intimacy in their adult lives. I have only the profound example of Brother Andre as he lived Christ’s invitation to welcome people into community.

People often bend my ear at our parish doors, arguing that if the homeless would just get jobs they would not be a burden on society. I have not read any description of Andre yelling and screaming at passersby, but I often want to shout at people when I hear their judgments. People come to us abused, addicted, and mentally ill and possessing no self-esteem. In this economic recession even the most educated and the most beautiful find employment difficult to attain. We welcome people living in poverty, following Brother Andre’s example, and do not blame people for the struggles and challenges of their lives.

Many church doors are still locked and some of our communities remain inaccessible to certain people within our Church and society. Some doors are barred to children of gay and lesbian parents. Many doors are closed to pregnant teens. Doors are bolted shut to recovering drug addicts who try to heal from multiple abortions. Other doors are closed to the elderly who seek help after being abused. There often seems to be no one on the other side of parish doors to help in times of deep depression, bouts of lashing out from mental illness and landing in jail or even for former clergy seeking help with alcohol addiction.

These are the parish doors that worry me, that keep me awake during the night. Our answers rest in the models of service and hospitality that Brother Andre still shows the Church. I must believe that Christ’s love is the cure for such loneliness and despair among so many people living on the margins of our culture and Church.

Before I open our church doors, I must become vulnerable to God. As I step into the unknown of people’s lives, I remember that only God can reconcile the broken, heal the sick and feed the hungry. There are days when I cannot come to God with anything but fear and a deep knot in my chest. On these days I try to be counted among the disciples who scurried to a dark room, locked the doors and wondered what to do next. Then I search for the words the resurrected Christ offered to them and now offers to everyone, “Peace be with you.” In these words I turn toward Andre’s legacy of living each day in deep prayer and rich satisfaction of the peace and joy offered by God alone.

I admire Brother Andre because he lived his life with passion. He lived an utterly simple life. Other people had to force him to wear a warmer coat and to replace his worn-out shoes. I am deeply changed by this man who simply lived what he believed, that the love of God would be enough for him. God’s love, as it turned out, was more than enough for him.

Every Friday night our parish doors are opened for a meal of soup and sandwiches. People eat seated in chairs stretched along the sidewalk after receiving the meal in our small lobby. We name this soup line “Brother Andre Café.” Simple food becomes the message of hospitality and an extension of the Holy Eucharist. We offer this community event even in the pouring rain or when few volunteers come downtown to help. We welcome people from local low-income housing apartments and people who live under Portland bridges. This is people’s Friday night out, a time to relax on plastic chairs and converse with new volunteers and friends. Brother Andre’s spirit is with us even in the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Through Andre’s dedication, hard work and endless prayer, the Oratory of Saint Joseph in Montreal, Quebec in Canada, stands today as a place of devotion and prayer for many pilgrims from around the world. When Brother Andre died, over a million people fought the frigid weather and deep snow to get a brief moment to view his earthly remains. I truly believe that Brother Andre Bessette, CSC still opens doors for people surviving poverty and living with the consequences of physical pain, mental illness and devastating emotional disease.

Saint Andre of Montreal, pray for us and welcome us home.

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC: HEART

2010-09-30T08:23:00.000-07:00

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC

Heart

Series: Number Nine

I often listen to our student volunteers question their futures. High school students wonder if college is the best solution for future employment. College seniors panic about how to find next year’s job so they can start paying off student loans. As the students spend time at the Downtown Chapel, they begin to realize that faith and service are key ingredients to their future lives and careers. The young volunteers discover from people living in poverty that real relationship and genuine kindness will open many doors to the future.

Many students volunteer in our parish hospitality center searching for a deeper meaning in their lives. These talented people simply want to give their hearts to a real cause, a purpose, to make a difference in the world. Even though they worry about the weak economy, high rates of unemployment, student debt, and even expectations from parents, they simply desire to offer their hearts in service to real people.

Brother Andre simply gave his heart to God. Even though he was illiterate and sickly he chose to listen to the worries of the sick. Even though the Congregation of Holy Cross hesitated to accept Brother Andre, he was always obedient to his superiors. Brother Andre was determined to dedicate his daily life to Saint Joseph, the patron of Canada and the Brothers of Holy Cross. Brother Andre’s compassionate heart was fashioned from his own suffering and his faith strengthened from receiving people on the margins of society.

Brother Andre invited people into prayer as they lined up to speak with him. He envisioned a chapel where people could come in pilgrimage to Saint Joseph and to pray in gratitude to God. On October 19, 1904, the first chapel was officially opened. Because of the large number of people streaming to the chapel for prayer, worship and healing, a new, larger chapel was built by November of 1908. Then in 1914, the Superior General of the Congregation of Holy Cross granted permission for Saint Joseph’s Oratory to be built. The construction took many years and was only completed after Brother Andre’s death.

Saint Joseph’s Oratory stands today in Montreal as a beacon of love and healing for many people. The prayerful setting welcomes thousands of visitors and pilgrims each year. This place of prayer reminds everyone of Brother Andre’s complete dedication to God. Today, Brother Andre’s physical heart is on display at the Oratory. This French custom reminds us that Brother Andre literally gave his heart to the mission of God’s work, to people in need of spiritual, emotional and physical healing.

The students in our daily hospitality center remind me to offer my own prayer and work for the purpose of God’s people. Brother Andre’s story shows us that our searching must rest in God’s love for people in need of hospitality, healing and hope. In faith, we shall all discover our heart’s desire.

Photo: Steve Scardina, (Brother Andre's heart at Saint Joseph Oratory in Montreal)

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC: HOLINESS

2010-09-23T08:56:00.000-07:00

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC

Holiness

Series: Number Eight

I learn a new reliance on God every single day. God teaches me this greater dependence because I do not know where else to turn with people’s overwhelming concerns. I cannot fix a young man who was in recovery from heroin and relapses just before his child is born. A young prostitute sneaks into the chapel to speak with me about the men who control her. An elderly man battling severe mental illness and loneliness confesses to me again in our hospitality center of his ongoing addiction to pornography. The circumstances of people’s lives demand from all of us a deep and unending faith.

Our ministry at the Downtown Chapel invites me into days of unanswerable questions, never-ending emotional turmoil and unsolvable situations. From the lives of people living in poverty, I learn how to trust God and come to terms with the fact that God alone heals. I must believe that there is more to come, that God is not finished with even the most stubborn of personalities. This is the place in ministry that challenges me into a deep and profound holiness.

Brother Andre exuded a real and often harsh holiness. He was often impulsive and certainly not perfect in his dealing with people who needed him the most. He stood on his feet for hours listening to people, and constantly being present to people was hard work for him. Especially as the years passed by and his own health grew precarious he grew more emotionally exhausted from his office hours. However, he never let go of his role to offer people a kind word and to lead them to Saint Joseph and ultimately to the love of Christ.

Brother Andre’s relationship with God and his real humanity grew together in his ministry and with his aging. Father Cousineau, Brother Andre’s Superior, recalls this daily tension, “During the early years of his work, Brother Andre rarely showed any signs of impatience….As he neared the end of his life, especially in the last three or four years, he did indeed express impatience more frequently….Many people, frightened by his ascetic expression or by the abruptness with which he put an end to meaningless conversations, failed to notice that Brother Andre maintained, despite his abrupt demeanor, a facial serenity which was the mirror of his inner peace….His outbursts of impatience were attributable, at least in my opinion, to his old age, to his failing health, and to the weariness his work caused him…”

Brother Andre’s holiness comes from entering into people’s unending physical and emotional suffering. He knew that only God could heal the people who came to him. He became harsh when he understood that healing was possible but the people doubted. He teaches us still in our day to believe in the power of Christ Jesus no matter our pain and uncertainty.

The Unsheltered Heart available at Barnes and Noble

2010-09-20T15:34:00.000-07:00

Barnes and Noble

My new book, The Unsheltered Heart, is also available at Barnes and Noble.

Thank you for your interest.

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC: HUNGER

2010-09-16T16:51:00.000-07:00

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC

Hunger

Series: Number Seven

People from our neighborhood pour into our small lobby for a Friday evening meal. Our neighbors living in single-room occupancy hotels socialize on the sidewalk outside the Downtown Chapel. Members of other parishes volunteer monthly to create their special recipes for soup. They provide sufficient welcome with sandwiches and fruit at our red doors in downtown Portland. Our parishioners pour lemonade and brewed Fair Trade coffee. We welcome familiar faces that live outside and make sure people know they know they are more important than even the food.

We serve food in our lobby and on our street corner for many reasons. This low-barrier event welcomes people who normally fear institutions and especially churches. We continue this soup supper outside even in the pouring rain because so many drug dealers use our sidewalk. For a couple of hours on Friday nights, we claim the sidewalk ourselves to satisfy human hunger as well as a deeper hunger for belonging and community. Our presence outside also shows local business people and folks attending bars and restaurants that we are a Christian presence in the neighborhood.

Since Brother Andre served as porter in Montreal, we name this evening meal to honor him. The Brother Andre Café serving at our front door attracts dozens of student volunteers from the University of Portland and many other colleges, high schools and grade schools throughout the year. Volunteers from several Portland parishes including Holy Redeemer and alumni of the University of Notre Dame all cook soup and purchase peanut butter and bread for sandwiches.

Brother Andre practiced mortification even in his diet. Even though he was sickly throughout his life, he ate very little food. His favorite food was a mixture of flour and hot water. His restrained diet sometimes included a simple pea soup or beans. He rarely served meat when he hosted people in his simple room above the chapel where he lived. He rarely ate with his Holy Cross community because of the demands of his role as porter.

His diet was also an extension of his spirituality. Brother Andre wanted to identify with people who were hungry so he would be hungry for God alone. He never wanted to go against his vows of poverty even concerning his own health. Even his friends could not talk him into a full course meal or a rich dessert.

Our staff and volunteers at the Downtown Chapel admire Brother Andre’s quest to place his life among people living in poverty, those whom he chose to serve. During our Friday evening meal we see the dire effects of physical hunger among our guests. We also witness the deeper hunger of people who desire a voice in society, who wait for their daily bread and who long to find their authentic place around God’s table.

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC: HUMILITY

2010-09-11T06:26:00.000-07:00

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC

Humility

Series: Number Six

People surviving poverty sign up for some life essentials on weekday mornings at the Downtown Chapel. Some people need a heavier coat to protect them from the Portland rain. Others need clean white socks and shoes. Walking is the primary mode of transportation for many of our guests. A man whispers to a volunteer that he needs clean underwear because he could not find an open bathroom in the early morning. Socks, underwear, jeans and jackets become essential for people who live under bridges or in doorways of local businesses.

I see masks of embarrassment and fear on the faces of people who ask for such personal items. No person should have to inquire to strangers for such intimate bits and pieces of hygiene and clothing. These awkward moments are very humbling for so many people. These overwhelming situations become an opportunity for volunteers to enter into people’s suffering and listen to their stories. These instances have the potential not for rash judgment and condemnation, but of genuine conversation and real relationship.

Brother Andre expressed his reliance on members of Holy Cross by asking for the basics of life. His black religious habit that he always wore was threadbare. He never wanted to spend money on himself. The soles of his shoes were worn out and he only reluctantly accepted new ones. Brother Andre’s room was decorated with a single bed, a wooden chair and crucifix. He was quoted often, “There’s no point in seeking material comfort because it’s more difficult, then, to follow God’s way, as one should.”

Brother Andre’s ideas about material belongings were not just pious, scrupulous notions. He continued to live from his upbringing of poverty and suffering. He wanted to model his religious life on people who are forced to ask for the essentials of life in order to survive. He needed to live the struggle of finding a coat that fit him and shoes that would survive the winter. Andre humbly desired to open his life to the grace of God. He timidly relied on God for everything, including every material possession. He depended on God’s grace in such practical matters so he could be an instrument of God’s greater physical and spiritual healing for all the strangers who knocked on his door.

I struggle with the meaning of my many material possessions. I am still learning to rely on God and trust in providence. My teachers are people who line up under my bedroom window every day waiting patiently to change out of their wet clothing or get their toenails trimmed or their hair cut. The example of Brother Andre challenges me to live among our parishioners and friends struggling to ask us for their daily needs. I learn slowly to trust God for all things, to humbly ask for all I need in order to love and serve.

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC: HEALING

2010-09-04T03:24:00.001-07:00

Healing

Series: Number Five

I arrived at the Downtown Chapel in March of 2002. My two and a half day journey from South Bend, Indiana was filled with anxiety and restlessness. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be here in the first place. I left my previous assignment emotionally fragile and quite uncertain about my life within the Church. I questioned my own abilities, gifts and even my desire to continue in ministry.

After unpacking my belongings and sorting through all my doubts and questions, I gradually began to be present to people who live with very few possessions and who face incredible suffering. I slowly saw my fear melt away as I entered into relationship with people here. As the weeks and months turned into years, I grew into realizing that my suffering was the real place to meet other people’s pain and hardship.

Brother Andre ministered among suffering people because he understood all too well his own ill health, his lack of education and even his isolation after losing his parents. For Andre, suffering was a vehicle to God’s love and grace. As many people approached him for healing, he sought first to heal their souls. He expected an act of faith or a sign of trust from the hearts of people who were physically ill. His deepest desire was to have people believe wholeheartedly in the love of God. To Andre, God’s grace was the only source for emotional and physical healing and maturity.

Brother Andre instructed people with simple requests such as holding a medal of Saint Joseph or praying a simple act of trust to God. He invited people to go to confession or to receive Communion or pray a penance. By May 9, 1878, the first written testimony of five cures attributed to Brother Andre was published. Brother Andre’s complete trust in God led him to offer people great hope as he requested healing of their bodily pain.

Brother Andre told this story in utter amazement, “A man who was wounded while hunting came to my office. The lead shot buried in his flesh had poisoned it and the doctors said his hand had to be amputated. I rubbed it with Saint Joseph’s oil. The poisoned flesh dripped to the ground like melting grease. My hands were covered with it. He left perfectly cured…” There are many signs of healing in Saint Joseph Oratory, canes, crutches and wheel chairs that hang on walls as symbols of trust, love and the comfort of Christ Jesus.

Unfortunately, most forms of healing at the Downtown Chapel are not so immediate. The healing we know does not come in an instant, no matter how strong our belief. Healing in most cases is fragile, unsteady and may take years to be fully realized. The life-long battles of mental illness require medication for the body and community for the soul in order to heal. The consequences of being abused as a child, loss of employment, and the emotional turmoil of life after war all take time and patience to endure. Healing comes from a radical belief in God and in the unfolding of all of our lives.

(Photo: By: Steve Scardina, Saint Joseph Oratory 2010)

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC: HOLY OIL

2010-08-28T09:02:00.000-07:00

Holy Oil

Series: Number Four

I cleaned out the cabinets in our parish sacristy last month. I sorted through all the lost-and-found items that had accumulated in a drawer over the past few weeks. I returned several extra glass vases to the florist across the street. I discovered one item at the back of a large cabinet that stopped me in my tracks. At the bottom of an old box, I uncovered a small glass bottle of oil. The unopened bottled had an image of Saint Joseph molded into the glass. A small folded brochure from Saint Joseph’s Oratory protected the antique glass container. I unfolded the yellowing paper and I saw a handwritten date at the top of the page. The date read, “1939,” just two years after Brother Andre’s death.

Brother Andre was assigned as porter for Notre Dame College in Montreal after he professed vows in the Congregation of Holy Cross. People started coming to him because they saw in him an earthy holiness and a desire to be among people who needed help and refuge from their pain. He prayed honestly and intentionally with people, asking them to pray to Saint Joseph as a model of fidelity and hope.

Brother Andre also anointed people’s bodily pain with vegetable oil from a lamp near a statue of Saint Joseph in the chapel. Brother Andre told people to wipe the oil on their wounds as a sign of faith. Andre insisted that Jesus’ disciples used simple things to express their faith in moments of healing, such as mud and water, oil and laying hands in prayer on people in need. Brother Andre’s great devotion to Saint Joseph connected the oil in the lamp to the poverty and suffering of people longing for healing and miracles.

At the Downtown Chapel, we all recognize the need to be present to people seeking healing. People need to be touched in a healthy, prayerful way in the midst of diseases that are not only physical but emotional and social as well. These diseases do not just go away in a measured time nor are they fixed or cured with ease. These matters of suffering remain lifelong struggles of sheer survival.

Every Wednesday at the noon Mass, we celebrate the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick near our icon of Christ the Healer. At the 5:00 p.m. Mass on Wednesdays we also celebrate the healing sacrament in particular for people suffering from addictions. On the first weekend of the month at both Masses we also celebrate the sacrament of Anointing of the Sick for people living in poverty, mental and physical illness and various addictions. We pray with the oil blessed on by the Archbishop and the people of God during the Chrism Mass.

I understand Brother Andre’s need for such a tangible item as oil to connect with people’s suffering and the healing of Christ Jesus. We anoint weekly because we know there is little else we can do. We anoint in faith because we do not have solid answers for people living in systems of poverty and generations of mental illness and ongoing addictions to heroin, alcohol, cocaine, sex and food. We anoint people because only God can heal people. Christ is our only hope.

A couple of weeks after discovering the oil in the sacristy, a friend offered me a gift from his recent visit to Saint Joseph’s Oratory in Montreal. I opened the wrapping and accepted a large plastic bottle of Saint Joseph’s oil. Brother Andre has been part of the healing here all along even though I did not know the antique bottle of oil was in our sacristy. Now our prayers for healing will be even more intentional through the intercession of Saint Joseph and the memory of Brother Andre in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC: HONOR

2010-08-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC

Honor

Series: Number Three

Every morning I witness people surviving the ravages of chronic unemployment. Job opportunities may never come along for many of our guests who face severe mental illness and depression. A middle-aged man holds back tears as he explains to our volunteers that his wife left him because he recently lost another job. A young runaway teen stresses about his survival as he explains to me that his foster brother sexually abused him. An elderly man just arrived in town from another city hoping to break his three-year streak of unemployment.

Our staff and volunteers become acutely aware that we cannot change people’s situations or fix the circumstances of others’ lives. There are no quick and easy solutions to long-term joblessness. People come to our parish Hospitality Center worn down from the heartbreak of unemployment and the loss of personal dignity. When people lose their jobs so many also lose their honor for life, self-worth and a sense of personal identity.

I also hear from many friends and neighbors that if homeless people just got jobs they would not need our handouts. Unfortunately, finding meaningful employment is not that easy, especially for people who suffer various forms of mental illness, long-term addictions and years of being homeless. Even after finding employment many people struggle to find the self-respect and courage to persist in their work. Finding work with dignity is an even greater challenge.

From people’s stories of unemployment, I also understand Brother Andre’s honor and devotion to Saint Joseph, the patron saint of all workers. Saint Joseph quietly worked as a simple laborer to support his family, Mary and Jesus. He worked in the shadows of Jesus, being a dedicated father and supporter of the mission of Jesus in the world. Brother Andre lived out Joseph’s dedication to work, realizing that there was no task too small if done for the purpose of being close to Christ Jesus. Andre swept floors, cut hair, ran errands for the sick, and welcomed the stranger. Brother Andre realized that it was not the job that gave him identity, but the fact that simple chores enabled him to constantly pray even while working many hours.

Saint Joseph is also the Patron Saint of Canada, which strongly influenced Brother Andre as a child. The Brothers of the Congregation of Holy Cross also look to Saint Joseph as their patron. Brother Andre continued this devotion to this quiet saint and patron throughout his religious life. The life of Saint Joseph shows us that living simply in the midst of Christ is our real identity. Brother Andre relied on the help of Saint Joseph in every aspect of his life and prayed to Saint Joseph for all people who came to the door of Notre Dame College in Montreal.

Saint Joseph, pray for us. We pray for people unable to provide for themselves. We work being grateful of our abilities no matter our talents or occupations. We pray for the dignity of all who labor and for all who seek employment. We pray for daily bread for all people as we honor Saint Joseph.

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC: HOSPITALITY

2010-08-14T15:31:00.000-07:00

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC

Hospitality

Series: Number Two

Every weekday morning at the Downtown Chapel our parish staff and dozens of volunteers open our red steel doors to people longing for companionship and a few essentials for survival. People stream from local shelters and wait in line at the parish for clean socks or money for prescription drugs for their mental illness. A young twenty-something man just released from jail wears flip-flops and needs clothing for protection in the Portland rain. One person waits in line for a yearly haircut. A young woman cuddles her infant hoping to secure a package of diapers in our Hospitality Center.

As I enter into relationship with our volunteers and our daily guests, I realize Brother Andre’s ministry as porter. Because of his own frail nature, the Congregation of Holy Cross was reluctant to welcome him into our religious community. He persisted through prayer and pleaded with the local bishop and superiors in Holy Cross. On August 22, 1872, Andre professed his first vows of poverty, celibacy and obedience. From that day on he was assigned as porter at Notre Dame College in Montreal, Canada. The frail man who was nearly turned away from religious life became the person to welcome the stranger at the door. He persevered in that ministry until 1909.

I learn everyday the core gospel value of hospitality. Welcoming the stranger is messy, stressful and often makes us all uneasy. Opening the door to people with mental illness or drug addiction changes my perspective and my view of people. I give up judging people and I put prejudice aside. Hospitality means entering into real, authentic relationship and discovering the person of Christ in our human condition. I now realize this as Brother Andre longed to be united with Christ through suffering. Hospitality is lived here as we slowly discover the dignity of every human being and come together in faith and non-violence.

I saw hospitality in a new light last month as we welcomed the film crew from Salt + Light Television Productions from Toronto, Canada. They were here witnessing the connection of Brother Andre and ministry among people in poverty in the United States. I witnessed the producer, Mary Rose, seeing something more than the perfect shot for the documentary. She began to discover in conversations that Brother Andre lives here because of his example of welcoming people. She listened to a man express his faith and his story of mental illness. She heard people admit being sexually abused and their longing for lasting adult relationships. As the crew filmed many aspects of our community welcoming all people, I saw a new attitude within them. They were not spectators behind a camera, but people being welcomed and accepted into our community.

Brother Andre’s ministry of hospitality lives among people who live outside or who have lost their jobs. This ministry continues within Holy Cross parishes and within the Universal Church. The sickly man who welcomed the stranger teaches us all to honor the dignity of all people no matter who knocks on our door.

Brother Andre Bessette, CSC: HOME

2010-08-06T16:31:00.000-07:00

Home

Series: Number One

Last month a film crew from Salt + Light Television Productions from Toronto, Canada filmed aspects of our ministry at the Downtown Chapel. Their cameras rolled for two days here because they are producing a documentary about Brother Andre Bessette, CSC. He will be officially named a saint in the Roman Catholic Church this October 17, 2010.

Brother Andre is very well known throughout Canada for his prayerful intercessions for people suffering from physical, emotional and spiritually pain. He touched thousands of people through his faith and prayer in the early 1900’s. The film crew caught images of our welcoming the homeless, feeding the hungry and washing the feet of the tired. Brother Andre still makes his home among us—the marginalized.

Brother Andre’s healing power still extends well beyond the borders of nations or the confines of generations. Our ministry at the Downtown Chapel continues his care and work in our neighborhood of poverty and suffering. His prayer for our community begins here at our red doors. Many of our neighbors, parishioners and guests remain smothered in violent relationships, overwhelming fear about the future and inconsolable suffering on a daily basis. Brother Andre still makes his home here among us, inviting us through these iconic red doors into a community of prayer and service.

Brother Andre was born (named Alfred) on August 9, 1845 about thirty miles from Montreal. His father died when he was nine years old. He was always sickly and his mother spent much of her attention on him even though she had eleven other children. She could not afford to care for her children so she offered them for adoption. She cared for Alfred until her death just two years after her husband’s death.

Alfred was poor, sickly and orphaned but his faith strengthened him. In the center of so many hardships he turned to Saint Joseph for courage and hope. Alfred made his home in the love of God, the promise of Christ’s healing. After his mother’s death, the illiterate Alfred struggled from job to job trying to support himself at a young age. He was a baker, cobbler and janitor and he tried to make a living across the border of the United States as well.

Alfred felt a deep calling from God to enter a religious community. At the request of his local parish priest, the Congregation of Holy Cross accepted him into formation even though he was so frail. The pastor told members of Holy Cross, “I am sending you a saint.” As Alfred was accepted into the community, he was given the name, “Andre.” Brother Andre finally found a home in God, in religious life and in service to Saint Joseph.

(I begin this series on the weekend of Brother Andre's birthday. This series will continue weekly throughout October 2010)

Fr. Steve's Installation as Pastor

2010-08-05T12:09:00.000-07:00

Fr. Steve Newton, CSC officially became pastor last

Saturday evening at our 5:00pm Liturgy. Welcome Steve

to our community of hospitality and healing. Fr. Jim Mayo,

pastor at St. Michael's parish welcomed Steve to the parish

on behalf of the Archdiocese of Portland.

Blessings on the journey, Steve.

"Take courage, it is I..."

2010-08-03T10:17:00.000-07:00

Nearly a year ago I spent five weeks in a hermitage in Kentucky.

This is the view from one of the windows. I can still feel the

sizzling humidy and hear the frogs and crickets in the late evening

light.

Jesus in Matthew's Gospel today walks on water. He tells us still,

"Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." In these summer days

Jesus reminds us in the beauty of life, in the center of human

suffering, in the complexities of transitions and changes, in the

questions about our futures, amidst chaos and poverty-- do not

be afraid.

Remember today this invitation. Be still amidst nature.

Calm down along the shore. Sit at the feet of the Divine.

Rest today. Allow fear to be washed away into the unkown

depths of Jesus' love for you.

Besmeared

2010-07-28T10:09:00.000-07:00

Reprinted from Ministry and Liturgy Magazine, Volume 37 Number 6, August 2010

I cringe when I notice the dirt on the door windows leading into the chapel. Our janitor cleans these windows daily and staff members occasionally wipe them spotless during business hours. However, by Sunday morning, handprints, coffee, food, body grease and makeup keep the windows smeared and dull. I often think that these greasy windows reflect on the staff and our ability to keep our chapel clean and appropriate for people to pray.

Read the rest of the article here

University of Portland Nursing Students

2010-07-21T19:48:00.000-07:00

Several nursing students from the University of Portland have been volunteering in our hospitality center for the past few weeks. Twice a week the students offer their time to offer food, laundry vouchers, hygiene products, foot care or simply spend time with our guests. I asked their supervisor for some written responses from their very first week. Here are some of the comments:

"Helping at the Downtown Chapel was very humbling and rewarding. It made me appreciate what I have in life a lot more."

"The first day of clinical was very informative and eye opening. On orientation day I was confronted with my preconceived notions about the homeless population and I was unsure about whether or not I would be able to form a connection with this population. I was also very apprehensive about whether or not I would be accepted into this community. However, my interactions with the guests have taught me that our struggles in life are our common ground."

"I love how all the staffs were very humble and believe in the principle that every human being is special and deserves love and support."

These represent a few of the comments I received from the nursing professor. They also articulate many of the experiences many other students tell our staff at the Downtown Chapel. Our parish connects with over a dozen universities, colleges and seminaries. I am so grateful for these young people interested in connecting faith to service and their lives to people living among the margins of society.

Bob's farewell

2010-06-27T14:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday June 27, 2010

This is the day we commission our brother and pastor, Bob, to put his hand on a new plow.

In our parish, a person with mental illness socked you in the jaw one Friday evening. Thank you for turning the other cheek when we hurt you and disappointed our selves.

In our parish, you commissioned an icon of Christ the Healer, a path to deeper prayer. Thank you for creating a place of prayerful hospitality so we may become the Body of Christ for one another.

In our parish, you painted our building bright welcoming colors, outside and inside. Thank you making us visible to our neighbors, a place of beauty for strangers and a place of genuine prayer for addicts and sinners, families and singles, guests and searchers.

In our parish, you welcomed many young people as interns, staff members, volunteers and even advisors. Thank you for passing on to the next generation the gospel call to pray with an open heart and to serve with every skill.

In our parish, you celebrated the Eucharist, visited the sick and anointed the infirmed with care and commitment. Thank you for the prayers of healing among us as we presented our weakness, our doubt, our insecurity and even our sin.

In our parish, you welcomed me here when I most needed a home. Thank you on behalf of all people who suffer homelessness for caring beyond physical shelter, but creating a place, a parish, of emotional safety and love.

Bob, my Holy Cross brother, friend and pastor, go with our blessing, keep your hand on the plow and live lovingly in Christ’s freedom.

Wheels of Misfortune

2010-06-24T16:50:00.000-07:00

Published in CELEBRATE!, July/August 2010
I often catch myself defining my life by my possessions. Sometimes I identify my success through labels of priesthood and the privileges that ministry offers me. I can measure my life and work by clerical perks. I can hide from others and myself by never paying taxes and not being responsible for another person or a family. I take my health insurance for granted in the present and my secure retirement in the future. The label of priesthood even offers me the ability to overindulge on food at our common table.

These external possessions do not provide the reasons for priesthood. If I live in this shallow clinging to benefits, then I miss my true self and my relationships with people. Ministering among people living with profound uncertainty changes how I relate to the external securities of my profession. I discover that other people’s struggles define my priesthood much more than my earthly possessions and privileges.

Each weekday people line up at our parish door asking for some basics of life, a toothbrush or underwear, a cup of coffee or a haircut. Recently a man in his early thirties came up to our front office window and asked a staff member for a backpack. She kindly offered him a small bag with wheels. He insisted on a backpack with growing frustration in his voice. The staff member assured him the bag with rollers could accommodate his belongings.

The exhausted man started to cry. He did not want to give into accepting the bag with wheels. He slowly explained that if he took the bag with wheels it would lead next to acquiring a shopping cart. If he possessed a wheeled cart, that would lead to pushing his belongings around the city. If he found himself piling his possessions on a metal cart, then he would have to admit to himself that he was homeless. He just did not want the label, the identity of being a homeless man.

Nearly every person struggles to find the appropriate relationship with what we think we own. The liturgical gospels from the Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time until the Twenty-Second Sunday in Ordinary Time prioritize our belongings. Jesus invites his disciples into an abundant life. The only scarcity is the number of laborers. He challenges his disciples to focus not on sacks and sandals but on the peace that will change people. He calls them to move around from house to house carrying little on their backs. Jesus assures them that the message of the Kingdom of God will be the real priority to share with everyone who pays attention.

Jesus shows us that we must be attentive to people on this journey. Focusing on too many earthly possessions keeps us from recognizing people in need who are directly in front of us. The wholehearted love that we are to offer God is the priority and it is to be lived out serving the needs of people. As I listened to the man who did not want a wheeled bag, I took my own personal inventory of what I consider my true possessions. I know well that my earthly stuff offers me an identity that often keeps me on the opposite side of the street from people who most need help.

Theses gospels reveal to us that our real possession is Christ himself. Our frustrations and concerns often stem from not being in relationship with Jesus in the first place. Martha and Mary battle for his attention with their activity and their contemplation. As I minister among people struggling for daily bread, I evaluate at sunup my relationship with God who first gives me the gifts to be attentive and active. I understand that if I am to be at the feet of Christ with my brothers and sisters in poverty, then I must change the way I see my life and all my resources.

Jesus warns us in these summer days not become greedy. He touches us with love so that we will believe that our lives are not based on what we own. We do not need bigger storage units and more closets, larger barns or plastic containers; we simply need a new priority to recognize what is enough in our lives. The man who did not want a wheeled cart unfortunately faced dire times and had recently become homeless. He was still learning to prioritize his needs in order to just survive. Jesus calls us again to look beyond the value of our possessions. This message is difficult to hear for many who do not possess the basic essentials of life.

Jesus tells us not be afraid. That request from our Savior is always difficult when we are faced with daily hunger, a lack of medication for depression, threats of nightly assaults and no money. He asks of us again to give away what little we have and to not be afraid of how we will live. The man at our window was so afraid to enter into the phase of his life in which he found himself, being homeless. He did accept the bag with the wheels. He just needed someone to listen to him. He needed someone to catch the meaning of his tears. I still learn lessons from our experience with him, to not be afraid to enter into the real issues of my life, the next phase of grace even when I am most afraid.

We cannot enter the narrow gate with all our possessions in hand, not even if we push them through the gate in a wheeled cart. Jesus continues to show us that the last will be first and the first will be last. If we realize that we do not create our identity from our many possessions, then we will rest humbly in God. We will discover that our real identity comes in knowing God and befriending our real selves.

No matter in which community we worship, God invites us to take a seat among the humble. As I reevaluate my attachment to my possessions, I see in our common prayer that I do not own these possessions anyway. All that we have in life is a gift from God. No matter how we live in the world, no matter how we store our supplies or find our identity in designer labels, God gifts us with all life. As the man left our parish center, our staff member assured him he was always welcome to park a wheeled cart at our door anytime in order to pray with us.

Baptism of Ella and Jeremy Raab

2010-06-06T17:13:00.000-07:00

Ella and Jeremy Raab were baptised today in Holland,

Michigan. Tim and Christina Raab, (my nephew) hold the twins while I

anoint their heads with chrism oil.

Lifting Up

2010-05-29T10:41:00.000-07:00

June Article from Ministry and Liturgy

Ministry in our parish introduces me to some threatening forms of power. I see the pecking order for dominance and survival each day even among people our society claims have no power. People who sleep in their cars look down on people who sleep under the bridge. People living under the bridge often ignore people living in the doorways along our street. People who are not addicted to alcohol or drugs put down those who are stoned or drunk standing in line at our church door.

...

Pentacost Podcast

2010-05-23T13:06:00.000-07:00

On the Margins, Pentacost 2010