From the Pastor’s Desk: March 17, 2019

     On every Second Sunday of Lent we reflect upon the story of the Transfiguration. It is the powerful moment when God expresses the fulfillment of His relationship with His people. The Gospel tells us that Jesus went up the mountain to pray and was transformed! On the mountain of transfiguration, in the company of two great Hebrew figures- Moses, representing the Law, and Elijah, the greatest of the prophets, Peter, James, and John witnessed the glory of Jesus’ identity as the “chosen Son”. The transfiguration in turn gives us a foretaste of the fulfillment we all await: the glory of resurrection and eternal life.
     The season of Lent is a time of growth for us in our relationship with Christ as we prepare for the celebration of the glorious event of the Resurrection. It is a time when through our desert and mountain top experiences we get empowered by the gift of prayer, penance, and acts of charity to be transformed and to share in the identity of chosen sons and daughters of God. We are destined to share in His glory! "Realize it, my brethren; —everyone who breathes, high and low, educated and ignorant, young and old, man and woman, has a mission, has a work. We are not sent into this world for nothing; we are not born at random; . . . God sees every one of us; He creates every soul, He lodges it in the body, one by one, for a purpose. He needs, He deigns to need, every one of us. He has an end for each of us; we are all equal in His sight, and we are placed in our different ranks and stations, not to get what we can out of them for ourselves, but to labor in them for Him. As Christ has His work, we too have ours; as He rejoiced to do His work, we must rejoice in ours also." — Blessed John Henry Newman.
     Many of us ask the same basic question during Lent – “Why do we Catholics not eat meat on Fridays during Lent?”  The “why Friday?” question is pretty obvious - it is one way we commemorate the Passion and Death of Our Savior Jesus Christ. But the question of “why meat?” may need more explanation. Meat has often been (and continues to be) a luxury in many cultures and associated with celebrations and feasts (e.g. Thanksgiving turkey, Easter ham, Fourth of July brat, burger and a steak). A day devoted to remembering Christ’s Passion doesn’t seem like a day to feast. From the dawn of Christianity, Friday was kept as a day of abstinence, in memory of Our Lord’s Passion and Death. Therefore, on the day when we are remembering the cruel way in which Our Lord was killed, we abstain from meat saying: Christ died for me, out of love for me and the whole world, today I want to abstain from food for my mere enjoyment. On this day, when I remember that I owe everything in this world and in the next to Christ and His love, I make this tiny sacrifice in solidarity with Him.
     On Tuesday, March 19^th, the Church celebrates the Solemnity of Saint Joseph, husband of the Blessed Virgin Mary. "He was chosen by the eternal Father as the trustworthy guardian and protector of his greatest treasures, namely, his divine Son and Mary, Joseph’s wife," says St. Bernardine of Siena. "He carried out this vocation with complete fidelity until at last God called him, saying 'Good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Lord.'" Due to St. Joseph's leadership of the Holy Family, he has been declared the protector and patron of the universal Catholic Church. The Church traditionally dedicates the month of March to the special veneration of St. Joseph.
     As Spiritual Adviser for the Rachel’s Vineyard ministry in our diocese, I will participate at the retreat this weekend. Rachel's Vineyard is a spiritual and emotional weekend retreat that offers a supportive, confidential and non-judgmental environment where women and men can express, release, and reconcile painful post-abortive experience to begin the process of restoration, renewal, and healing. Because of the emotional numbness and secrecy that often surrounds an abortion experience, conflicting emotions both during and after the event may remain unresolved. These buried feelings can surface later and may be symptoms of post abortion trauma. Rachel's Vineyard takes these experiences in the context of the scripture and in trying to understand the mystery of death; we look to God in times of personal distress, trauma, and the loss of human life. The weekend offers an opportunity to find voice to one’s soul and transforms the pain of the past into love and hope of tomorrow. Please pray for all who will attend this weekend’s retreat.
     I wish you a blessed week in the journey of Lent.  St. Joseph – pray for us!
   
With prayers,
   Fr. Andy