June 12, 2022: Ninth Sunday of Easter
Dear Followers of Christ,
Today we celebrate The Ascension of the Lord. This feast may seem confusing. In the western part of the United States, this feast is celebrated on Sunday. In the eastern United States, The Ascension of the Lord was celebrated last Thursday, the traditional forty days after Easter. The feast was moved to Sunday because it is a major feast of Jesus and could be celebrated by the majority of Catholics.
The first reading from Mass today is from the Acts of Apostles. This text, Acts 1:1-11, tells the story of the Ascension of Christ Jesus. There is one phrase that always captures my attention, “Men of Galilee, why are you standing there looking at the sky?” I am always with the disciples who must have been so intrigued and confused about all of Jesus’ actions. His death was not expected and then he rises from the dead and they wondered about the meaning of his resurrection. And now he disappears into the sky! Can you imagine what the disciples must have thought about that?
Many years ago, I had a dream about the Ascension. I was in a crowded Jerusalem street in the market place, shoulder to shoulder with people in the hustle and bustle of life. Suddenly at the end of the street amid all the people, Jesus began his ascending into heaven. As he left the ground, he turned to all the people in the crowded street. He seemed to look into all of our eyes at once, including mine. As he left, he said to all of us, “Okay, you guys, you do it, you take over
I always found this dream so empowering. I felt he was talking to me in this very vivid dream. As the years go by, I still believe he was speaking to every one of us who follow him. He was asking us to take his place and to do the things he did on earth. He wants us to learn how to heal people, how to invite people into forgiveness, how to raise the dead and offer his touch to the marginalized. He wants us to find in him a gracious way of being tender to people and to put down our armor that keeps people at arm’s length. He wants us to find his peace in the world by working for justice. He wants us to create community and make sure every person belongs in such a space. He wants every person to realize that no matter who they are, the Father has created them, and in the end, they will be just fine.
I believe this dream is not just whimsy. The Ascension is a call and challenge for all of us to get to work. This work means that we witness to all people that we believe in Christ Jesus who walked the earth and that his mission is worthwhile. The Ascension is not meant for us to look up into heaven and reminisce about the past. This feast means that we will focus on the ground, where the work needs to be accomplished in Christ Jesus. So get to work, everyone, and enjoy your life inspired by God for the benefit of our poor, lonely and marginalized. Don’t look up; look around.
Blessings to you,
Fr. Ron
Used by permission of Fr. Ronald Raab, C.S.C.
May 22, 2022: Sixth Sunday of Easter Ascension
Dear Followers of Jesus,
Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid. This phrase of the gospel reminds us that following Jesus is not always easy. God’s love is countercultural. God’s love and commandments invite us deeper into union with God that does not always follow our human lives. Jesus explains that the Holy Spirit will give us all peace, a peace that the world cannot give. This peace is far reaching in the world and deep within our lives. This peace forms our conscience and penetrates hate, violence and pride.
Sometimes the peace the Holy Spirit offers us goes against our vision of life, our politics and even what we have learned. If we remain rooted in God through personal prayer, the Eucharist and the riches of our own baptism, a deep and abiding peace will flourish in our lives. We need a new reliance in this Easter season on the reality of God, our place in God’s life and a deeper understanding of our reliance on the Holy Spirit.
God invites us to live fearlessly. We should not be afraid, reluctant or bashful about living our faith in the world. We are given all we need to live in faith. Sometimes we forget that the Holy Spirit is present to us and that the Holy Spirit will be the force of comfort and strength we need to live out of our own needs, to live a life that is reflective and loving in our world.
Easter is a sheer gift to us. Yet, we hesitate to commit our lives even when we are sure of the Lord’s presence and his gifts of reconciliation, salvation and new life. We cannot let this gift of mercy and love be ignored by us. This gift must be taken to our hearts and shared in our daily lives. Love is what we are looking for in life. Peace comes to us when we are willing to offer such faith, hope and love to others. Peace is also not just an illusive gift from God. Peace comes to us when we believe that God is more powerful than our sin, our doubt and our grief. Peace is incredibly beautiful and shows within us when we finally move toward it. We all know people who exude the peace of Christ in our daily interactions. Perhaps we can imitate them.
Love, peace and mercy are all gifts to the first disciples and it is those gifts from God, from the resurrection of Christ, which formed the early Church. I wonder what will form the Church in the future if we do not find these gifts in our hectic lives? We worship on the shoulders of those who believed before us. Our gift to this next generation of believers will certainly reveal to our children and grandchildren what we take seriously and what we believe today.”
In peace,
Fr. Ron
Writing used with written permission of Fr. Ronald Raab, C.S.C.
May 15, 2022: Fifth Sunday of Easter
Dear Parishioners:
Easter greetings to all of you. He is Risen. He is truly Risen!
I wanted to take this opportunity to say how wonderful Holy Week, the Triduum and Easter Sunday have been. It was truly special to see so many of you stay on Holy Thursday to spend some quiet time with the Lord and then to see many more of you than usual join us for the very moving Easter Vigil mass. Overall, the number of people attending all masses was so much more like ‘normal’ since the pandemic turned our lives upside down. I pray we continue to worship together every week.
This Sunday we celebrate Divine Mercy Sunday. This feast highlights the Mercy of our God, which very much goes hand-in-hand with the salvation won for us by the Paschal Mystery. Hopefully, we find great comfort in knowing that God loves us so much that his “mercy endures forever.”
May the joy of the Easter Season remain with you these days and always.
Blessings,
Fr. Marc,
Pastor
April 17, 2022: Easter Sunday
Dear Parishioners:
I wish to send the most heart-felt of Easter greetings to you all today. He is Risen as he said he would and because of that we have Easter joy abounding among us.
The Lenten weeks, while sometimes difficult, are now behind us. The intense Holy Week of commemorating the Lord's Passion, suffering and death has prepared us for this joy. And now we are truly joy-filled because the hope of the Resurrection has been given to us; the gates of Heaven, once closed before Jesus' rising are now flung open and the prospect of eternal life is open to us.
This Easter is a particularly joyous one for me as so many more of us are returning each week to celebrate together. From where you sit, you see mostly the backs of friends, neighbors, visitors and people you have yet to meet. From where I sit, I see so many faces who have become more than faces over the years. As I look at these faces, I think of sharing the ups and downs of everyday life, as well as times of great joy and times of great sorrow. I also see the faces of our young people, some who have been away at school and are home for spring break; some who now have their own families and have brought their children to the home and families they knew as children. I see new faces, some I know are probably just visiting for Easter Sunday, but some who may be new to our town and I hope will feel welcome here, stop and introduce themselves and return again to become the faces of those I see and remember times shared.
My prayer for the wonderful families of St. Cassian Parish and all who are here this weekend is that Christ's Resurrection will bring about new birth and renewed joy in all of us. Light has overcome darkness, love has overwhelmed sin; death has given way to eternal life!
These are the reasons why we rejoice so and sing out.
Easter Blessings,
Fr. Marc, Pastor
April 10, 2022: Palm Sunday
Dear Parishioners:
We have reached that time of the liturgical year when we get to the “difficult” days of Lent: we begin Holy Week and immediately enter into the Passion of Jesus and feel his suffering.
The Sacred Triduum, the “Three Days” of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday, while not part of Lent, are also filled with emotion. There is the great joy of the Institution of the Eucharist on Holy Thursday as well as the celebration of the gift of Christ in our midst and in our tabernacles and the institution of the priesthood. This great joy is followed by the sadness of Good Friday, when we commemorate that Our Lord died on a cross for our sins. We go from joy and celebration to sadness and contemplation, then to anticipation on Holy Saturday, waiting patiently for the Resurrection on Saturday night’s Easter Vigil and Easter Sunday.
Holy Thursday is one of the most profound celebrations of our faith; the one on which all other celebrations of the Eucharist throughout the year are based . And, once the Holy Thursday liturgy is complete, the altar is stripped and the Eucharist is taken in procession from the church to response in the tabernacle in Larkin Hall which has been transformed into a beautiful, peaceful space to spend some quiet time with Jesus in prayer and reflection.
The congregational reading of the Passion of Christ on Good Friday though simple in nature, is our opportunity to reflect on the sacrifice made for us so we might be freed from the death of sin.
The Easter Vigil, the liturgical highpoint of the year and our most solemn mass, begins at 8:30PM on Saturday in the darkness of night. The symbolism of lighting the fire and the Paschal candle, a symbol of the light of Christ, and then sharing the light of Jesus with everyone in the church as each person’s candle is lit is a moving sight and vivid reminder of being freed from the darkness of sin. Sadly, we have no one being initiated as a member of our Church this year, so we will not celebrate that most beautiful ceremony. But, if the length of the Easter Vigil that has included the reception of new members has kept you from experiencing the beauty of this wonderful night in the past, this year would be the perfect time to come.
If you have never participated in the very special days of Holy Thursday, Good Friday and the Easter Vigil, I encourage you to consider joining those who have long considered the days of the Triduum some of the most spiritually enriching days of the year. After these past two years of being unable to celebrate the Triduum together and so much more to be grateful for, I want to encourage each of you to come together as a community. Please don’t just get your palms this year, but walk with Our Lord and the Church during these “difficult” days and the celebration of the Light arriving among us.
Blessings,
Fr. Marc, Pastor
