Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

First of all, I hope everyone had a chance to stop by the ministry booths under the tents outside Mass last weekend. What a wonderful, generous group of people and what a beautiful spirit seemed to fill the event. Our thanks to all the ministry leaders and representatives who gave up a good part of a weekend to tell our parish story. My special thanks go to the coordinators of the day: Dawn Miller, Beth Merriman, Patti Kaila, Pam Biedenbender and Rick Caporali. Thank you!

This weekend is Commitment Sunday, when we take all that we have learned about opportunity and decide what we plan to do about it this coming year. You’ll notice on the commitment card that there are places to state your intentions to be involved in the parish life of prayer, service in ministry and faithful support of the parish mission that is the life of the Gospel and the salvation of souls. Please, again— each and all—consider doing at least one thing this year as a sign of your good will and thanks for God’s love for you. We have been given so many gifts in love, and are called to use them to advance God’s plan in loving service.

Commitment, Abraham Lincoln said, is what transforms a promise into reality. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t speaking directly about the spiritual life, but it is a fascinating reflection when you consider the ways we are invited to respond to God’s promise. The realization of God’s promises always requires a personal investment of self, an offering, a giving away.

God doesn’t accomplish anything in our lives or the life of our parish without us, fully involved. Consider a vocation, and how a vocation can’t be successful without a commitment. You could have a vocation as a mom or dad, or as a priest or religious, or even as a peacemaker or teacher, but it means nothing if you don’t respond. The word vocation, based on the Latin word voco, vocare (to call), has intrinsic to its meaning that someone has to answer the call. Otherwise it is of no value, unfulfilled.

This Thursday we keep in our prayers one of our parishioners, Joe Farrell, and our seminarian from this summer, Rich Miserendino, both of whom will be ordained as transitional deacons at Saint Peter Basilica in Rome by Archbishop Donald Wuerl of D.C. We pray for their commitment in this step toward being ordained priests here in Arlington next June, and for our church and the commitments we make.

May they be a good example and source of inspiration for all of us to follow through with the good intentions we have, to follow God’s will in our lives and, by our actions, transform God’s promise for us and our parish into reality. Congratulations, Joe and Rich!

On a final note, I promised a parishioner that I would mention his disappointment when
he came back to his vehicle after the 8:30am Sunday Mass and found that someone had
backed into it and driven off, leaving considerable damage. This is not the first time this has happened, sadly. There were other instances of rude behavior which people related. We can only apologize for the parking lot we have for so long. It is all we have. If you do not wish to be parked in, it would be wise not to park in a place where that will likely happen. Choose one of the spaces along the trees, or on a street nearby. Above all, let us make the commitment to take responsibility for our mistakes, and be charitable and kind with each other and with our neighbors.

God bless you.

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

It was a flawless day, I don’t remember having had such a perfect day for the Ice Cream Social Cakewalk and Dance. I found myself standing back, looking at what we have done in building this community and felt a deep sense of joy. Here, at least, was a capsule of peace, where people could come together and just enjoy the afternoon, the ice cream and one another, kids could run around in safety and real connections were made among people.

If only it were so everywhere – right? We are so grateful that God has given so much to us, but we are also painfully aware that it is not so in many places in the world. The stories of human cruelty and suffering multiply daily becoming uncountable instances of desperate need. What can we possibly do to help ease their sadness and suffering? To make the world a safe and peaceful place for all God’s children?

Of course, we reach out in whatever way we can. And we pray. When I was writing the intercessions for Mass last week this idea was on my heart, and we prayed: “That the wrongs that others do may NOT be kept alive in us in the form of discrimination, judgment and hatred; that we may be examples of Christ’s love, we pray to the Lord.” I think this is the most difficult aspect of evil and sin, that its damage can cause us to sin, too, as we are dealing with its effects. We can decide to keep the effects of these sins alive and damaging. Sins of hatred must not cause others to hate; it is easy to fall into this trap. Then evil has won the day.

But if we were able to respond in love? Well, that is the idea we are all familiar with, but it is
not so easy in action as it is in concept. “Hate the sin but love the sinner” is a hard teaching.
We can’t condemn whole peoples or cultures for what we are seeing happening around us, no matter how horrible the images on television or unthinkable the reports. Terrible crimes have been committed in the name of religion – ours, too – ever since human beings have been involved. It isn’t the religion driving it, ever; it is in the evil choices of extremists who have hijacked truth and twisted its interpretation to their purposes.

But we must condemn the actions and do what we can to prevent them, together, and do everything we can to make sure that the actions end there. In response, then, we must be people of truth who reveal it in our own lives. We seek it in others, and respond to it in love when it is found. We encourage it, we teach it and form it in our young people and learn it from the wisdom of our elders. And we keep alive in our memories the beautiful afternoon and the gathering of family and friends as a reminder that God continues to bless, and to guide us.

God bless you.

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

Do you remember what it felt like when we were kids and summer was ending? There was always a kind of sadness as the days got darker but also an abiding warmth about gathering closer to family and other people as the weather turned cooler and we left behind that summer independence as we returned to home and community, and school.

One of the things we looked forward to, as children, was the fall carnival. It is one of the strongest memories of community that I recall in my life. We would go out into the early evening and there would be lights strung across the parking lot at St. Francis Xavier Church in Kansas City, MO, twinkling welcome. There would be a lot of people who braved the first chill in the air of autumn, who came out for bingo under the tent, or to try out the various booths of games where you could win that prize that you never wanted so much as you did at that moment. Ice cream was always served.

And there was the cakewalk.

Someone (I always figured it was Monsignor, himself) had literally painted a numbered path on the parking lot and people lined up to take their chance on winning a cake.

You see, you follow this magical path and when the big band music stopped, if your
number was called, you won a cake. It was better than the lottery. You looked at the array of beautiful cakes and got to choose. This was, as far as I was concerned, the foretaste of heaven.

Of course, our family brought a cake too—everyone did—because that was the price of
admission. Mom’s cake was always one of the first to be picked, even though they just looked like the ones we often had at home. She made this kind of chocolatey-licious cake with sour milk that is still my favorite today.

As I think back on these memories I’m sure I’ve idealized the whole thing, as a child will do. But it is so great that regardless of what that church carnival actually was, the feeling of it has stayed with me to this day as one of my favorite memories. It is that feeling that you can’t replace when you begin to feel like you don’t belong, or are drifting a little. It is comfort to know that somewhere, the church lights are still on.

So now you know, if you were wondering, “Why a cakewalk?” I’m always amazed at how many people have never been to one.

Of course, the fact that cake goes so well with ice cream gives us another clue. The ice cream social finds its fulfilment in the cakewalk, and it leads us to share our prizes. It is funny how often people win their cake and run for the door, taking it home. (Here is a secret, maybe it will catch on this year: once a cake is won, it is meant to be something you can share with others.) Suddenly there is ice cream and cake for everybody, which help us to see how well we are suited for one another, too. You can use cake and ice cream as a model for how community can form and people can complement each other.

So don’t miss our parish cakewalk, and dance, and ice cream social next weekend. Come in your dancing shoes. There are a few events each year that can bring all of us together and this is a good one. Yes, it happens out at Holy Cross in the afternoon on Sunday (I guess people don’t like to go out in the evening anymore) and it is still late summer so the sun is still high and it is plenty hot. But all the ingredients for good memories are still present, and I hope it can serve as a moment when you realize that the community of the Church is still at the heart of who we are.

Now that I think about it, maybe we should add Bingo out on the soccer field. Maybe next year.

There is no charge, this is a present to all of you in our parish family. No charge, of course, unless you’d like to bake an amazing cake and bring it for some kid to win and, hopefully, share.

God bless you.

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

The beginning of the Ministry Year at Saint Mary gives all of us a chance to draw near, roll up our sleeves and get to know our God who is immediate to us, and our neighbor whose needs are also immediate.

The word immediate could have two senses: right at this moment, as in immediately, or right in the same place. Most people live their lives with God at least at arms’ length (it is easier that way) but God isn’t limited by location. It is a human concept which we need to grasp being. To us, to be requires a place to be, but with God, he is always here, just as he is always now. For the person who is considering God, he is never “there.” He is always here.

The founding fathers of our republic were largely Deists. Some had become absolute advocates of the Enlightenment religion of nature and reason, a belief that there is some kind of God who made the machine and pushed the start button, then just sits back and watches it succeed or fail. Some were Christians, but most were a combination of the two, who believed in little or none of the miracles or supernaturalism found in the Judeo-Christian tradition, but retained Christian loyalties of faith. On the conservative side was Washington and Adams; the liberal, Franklin and Monroe.

This impersonality of God, however, has permeated our atmosphere of religious freedom
with a spirit of “freedom from religion,” even for believers. It would seem quite possible to believe and not live belief. So there is this lingering doubt in the mind of people since the Enlightenment, that perhaps all we really can know is empirical knowledge, that which is seen and heard, touched and tasted.

But is it possible to see and hear, touch and taste things that are beyond physical reality? Just because one person doubts the possibility or has never delved enough into the mysteries of God and has had no experience—well, that doesn’t mean these things don’t exist. Our tradition, on the contrary, is filled with accounts of saints and entire communities of people who have known the supernatural event of God in their lives in a quite tangible, documentable way. We do it, for example, every time we enter into God at Mass and result in Communion together. It isn’t a contest of wills or subjugation, it is a free and humble submission that God is greater and can move in our lives in ways that are immediate. Here and now.

Mass on TV can’t take the place of being in church on Sunday, any more than having feelings of compassion for the poor and homeless can substitute working together to provide solutions to end hunger and isolation. Or standing shoulder-to-shoulder with those who are considered the stranger by some, discovering common dreams and spiritual hopes. We have to be together for it to happen.

Friendship doesn’t happen between computer monitors. There is no substitute for face-to face. Lately there have been more and more people asking for counseling in the confessional… I try to explain that it is not possible to have a real first conversation about anything with a person who stays on the other side of a screen. What kind of arrogance would I have if I were to pretend that I had answers for someone whom I have never met? You might as well read a blog. We have to be real and immediate to one another, here and now.

By the way, so does God. It takes a Son to be a Father, a Father to have a Son, a relationship for there to be a love that lives and moves and brings others—all others—into its life of community. A we that invites a you to join, and become one in the image and likeness of God. We discover who we are when we are immediate and involved with God and with each other.

I do believe that there is a special charism of unity and I would like to call it forth from all those of you who have it, to help our parish come together to life this Ministry Year. These gifts—all our gifts—are given in love so that we might respond in love, and they will only be fulfilled in our action.

May God bless you,