Come Holy Spirit Come, We Are Gathered in One Place on Facebook and Blogs

A Reflection on the readings for Pentecost.

A long time ago I heard a homily on Pentecost that has never left me… The priest said these words and whatever else he said has evaporated in my mind, but not the main point of his message.

“Easter makes me not afraid to die; Pentecost makes me not afraid to live.”

He spoke these words as my faith was being renewed and as I tentatively returned to the Catholic church. They really stuck and have lived on in my heart. I wish I could even remember his name, he was a visiting priest, but no, that is gone too.

I’ve spent a lot of time since then, about 20 years ago, trying not to be afraid to die or live, but have only made limited progress on both. This I know, the more deeply I enter into the life of faith and the more intimately that I become part of the unity of the Body that being Church calls us to, the more those words have helped me.

Are you on Facebook? So many people are – astounding numbers of people. It is quite remarkable to watch. A big part of my own ministerial life is lived online. There are many conversations about whether this is “good” or “bad.” Sadly, I hear more about the “bad” but that just returns me to the not being afraid part.

One of the great things about not being afraid to “live” online would be the many chances for evangelizing and being evangelized, the many opportunities for interaction in the name of Christ and a constant demand for the presence of the Holy Spirit to guide our ways.

“Living” online, especially in matters of faith,  came to mind as I read and prayed with the first reading from the Acts of the Apostles.

When the time for Pentecost was fulfilled,
they were all in one place together.

We are not all physically “in one place together” but when we gather at a blog or participate in a Facebook conversation, we actually are together. If it is a faith post, then we are hopefully there in the name of Christ.  

And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit
and began to speak in different tongues,
as the Spirit enabled them to proclaim.

Well we are certainly all out there, speaking in what would seem “different tongues.”  In the past week alone, I have participated in several conversation threads on Facebook and each one has left me, and no doubt others, frustrated. We were all talking about somewhat the same thing… why couldn’t we understand each other?

What we hear described in that reading is the rush of the Holy Spirit, coming to enable each one to hear, no matter what the language. Once again, I am grateful for our Roman Catholic imperative to not interpret Scripture literally. This reading was not some early iteration of BabelFish or Google translate, but rather the Spirit coming to unify the many voices.

Oh please Holy Spirit, come to Facebook, please! Enlighten us, open us up, give us wisdom, give us charity, give understanding please!

For those of us who do profess our faith in Christ Jesus, we are called to literally “re-member” the Body of Christ. In doing so we must find ways to speak and be heard in One Voice. That is another gift of our Church, we are many members of One Body – not each parish unto itself, but part of a much larger liturgical whole.

Also it is our mission as Christians to unify (unify, not wrestle to the ground in dominating submission) God’s people as one in Christ. So this would really required that whole “understanding the many voices” part of Pentecost.

So as I return to my Facebook and blogging “mission” I will once again, God knows I start anew each day, to doing so taking the words of another Catholic with me. About a month ago, Catholic writer and blogger, Elizabeth Scalia (aka The Anchoress) was in Rome at the first ever Vatican Bloggers Meetup. She spoke about and wrote about the need to be present online “with clarity and charity.” 

Doing so is very difficult and I know that I struggle with it all the time. As I said, just in the past week alone, I was in several online discussions that turned intense, one into a skirmish of sorts. And one of them was with Elizabeth Scalia herself; we descend into these things more often than I care to admit and I am the instigator of sorts; going to her FB page or blog and saying something that is not necessarily in sync with her or her readers.  However I really want to understand what they are saying and I can only hope and pray that they understand me.

It has been a marginally successful effort, but we press on in faith. At least Elizabeth and I do!

Does this mean that we fold up our tents and go home? No. It means that we are called to what that same Elizabeth spoke of… interacting with clarity and charity. That is what we are called to as Catholics, Christians, all followers of Christ. And to do so means to wait in hope for, listen to and cooperate with the great Holy Spirit, whose arrival comes to us at Pentecost.

So do not be afraid to die, our hope is in resurrection. But do not be afraid to live, our hope is in the restoration of The Body of Christ.

Easter Reflections – June 2, 2011, Ascension Thursday – Why Are You Standing There Looking At The Sky?

Ascension Thursday – June 2, 2011

Why are you standing there looking at the sky?

Jesus has ascended to heaven and if all we can do is look at the sky, we might be in trouble.

It is important to be aware of Jesus, but it seems, like the disciples themselves, we want to stand there, heads up, eyes fixed upon the great blue and beyond of the sky. Now I am willing to give the disciples some slack, can you imagine standing there and seeing this? However, not unlike the Resurrection, the instruction seems clear… He is not here. The angelic messengers are there to remind us to get up and go, there are things to be done in Jesus’ name.

It also seems that we are not to be focused on when Jesus will be back or how, but to live out the promise that being baptized in the Holy Spirit holds for us. Pentecost is a week from Sunday, they day we celebrate that baptism of fire and wisdom.These days in between Ascension and Pentecost are important ones, as we pray for the coming of that wisdom and our willingness to receive it.

The other day I read this post from Richard Rohr and it really struck me. He wrote,  “Prayer happened today—and I was there!”  I think that we are reminded in words such as those, not to just stand there and stare upwards but to be present and engage.

Jesus has ascended and we are called to show up in prayer and hope. We can’t just look at the sky! In living today’s Gospel we see that God invites us more deeply into the dynamism of Jesus’ transforming work. We need to “be there” when these things happen and as Jesus tells us “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations…”

We don’t do this by craning our necks at the sky or by forcing people to follow Jesus. Transformation happens when we live as Christ in the world and the healing, saving, power of Jesus is made real.

In order to be disciples we must show up, have a look up as needed and then be there to show up for and live the prayer that is our mission. The mission is to unify and to heal, to restore the very Body of Christ.

I know I’d rather look up at the sky, but it seems we must do otherwise.

We Have Nothing

I was reading Claire’s blog this morning and she quoted Jessica Powers. Powers was a Carmelite nun and poet; you can read more about her at this link.

Reading Powers’ words suddenly drew me back to another chapter of my life; one early in my return to Church. A then-priest then-friend of mine gave me a book of Jessica Powers’ poetry and this helped me to find my way when I felt lost.

Then I went looking around and found this gem.

If You Have Nothing

The gesture of a gift is adequate.

If you have nothing: laurel leaf or bay

no flower, no seed, no apple gathered late,

do not in desperation lay

the beauty of your tears upon the clay.

No gift is proper to a Deity;

no fruit is worthy for such power to bless.

If you have nothing, gather back your sigh,

and with your hands held high, your heart held high,

lift up your emptiness!

-Jessica Powers, OCD

We have nothing, that is for certain. All is gift, all is from God. And no gift is proper for such a generous God.

So today, I will simply do as Powers’ suggests; I will gather my sigh, hold my hands and my heart up and reveal that great emptiness to this great God that brings us from nothing to everything.

Thanks be to God.

A Sunday Reflection

Today is the Fifth Sunday of Easter; we had 18 children making First Eucharist at the 4pm Mass on Saturday here at St. Edward the Confessor, Clifton Park. It was really beautiful to behold!

A number of things came to me as I read and studied the readings for today. In the First Reading from the Acts of the Apostles, we hear this:

As the number of disciples continued to grow,
the Hellenists complained against the Hebrews
because their widows
were being neglected in the daily distribution.

What a reminder that the Acts of the Apostles is such a rich treasure of church history. It is so easy to get lost in imagining a church like our own – well except for electricity and all! No – in all seriousness, we must constantly remind ourselves that the early church was so very different from what we live today. 

First of all, this reading is clear in reminding us that this early church was not separate, but part of Judaism! Do we really allow ourselves to consider that fully?  And as the followers of Jesus spread, the Hellenists, or those of Greek culture, became part of this new movement that was becoming a church.

Another thing that comes to mind is that the ministry of deacon, which is addressed in the reading, is a ministry of outward facing service.

In the second reading, a most beautiful one from St. Peter, we hear these beautiful words…

Beloved:
Come to him, a living stone, rejected by human beings
but chosen and precious in the sight of God,
and, like living stones,
let yourselves be built into a spiritual house
to be a holy priesthood to offer spiritual sacrifices
acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

We are the living stones… the church is not a building but a people. This people – that would be us – become church, we are church. We are living stones! We are also reminded that the stone that was rejected, that would be Jesus Christ, became the cornerstone.

Then our Gospel, our beautiful Gospel from John:

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You have faith in God; have faith also in me.
In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places.
If there were not,
would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you?

I don’t know about you, but when I read and heard this I thought about the news that dominated the world for days… The prediction that said that the world would end on May 21, 2011 at 6pm.

Oh I could write page upon page about this sad event. The original prediction by Harold Camping, which said the world would end in 1994, only impacted a small number of his followers. When it did not come, he recalculated and came up with May 21. Only this time, he had the power of the internet and all other media that had this thing going and going.

If you watched WNYT Newschannel 13 on Friday, you may have seen reporter Abigail Bleck presenting this apocalypse story. (In full disclosure, my husband Mark Szpylczyn works at Newschannel 13, but he did not work on this story.) Abigail interviewed Fr. Bob Longobucco, pastor of St. Helen’s in Niskayuna. Father Bob said, among other things:

Like Harold Camping, all Christians are waiting for the second coming of Jesus. But “Father Bob” suggests it won’t happen like Camping predicts.


“When He came the first time He came in love and generosity. I can’t believe He’s coming differently the second time.”

Jesus came in love and generosity. Amen! And why would that be different this time? Amen! 

So, getting back to the Gospel, isn’t that what Jesus is talking about now? Look at what Jesus said – do not be troubled or afraid! There are many dwelling places!

Jesus speaks to us with love, in hope and filled with generosity and mercy.

As I look back over these readings and consider the message of this Sunday I am heartened and grateful. Serve others. Be Church. Have hope.

And what could be better than all of that? 

***A serious prayer request** Please do pray for the followers of Harold Camping. Many, many people took him seriously and stopped working, spent money to help spread the word about 5/22, and more. They must be crushed and if not, they are still potentially financially ruined. Just read about the Carson family chronicled, among others, in this article. 

I did a lot of online joking about this event, but when I read that, I realized that it is not always funny. My friend Michael Dresbach, an Episcopal priest living in Panama also had some very worthwhile reflections to read along these lines. He blogs as Padre Mickey and you can read him here.

Easter Reflections – Faith Happens In Community Wednesday April 27, 2011 by Fran Rossi Szpylczyn

Faith Happens in Community – A Reflection for April 27

Four years ago today, I walked into St. Edward the Confessor and my life changed forever. Mark and I were going to be married here at the church the next day. However, on Friday the 27th, I made a split second decision to go to daily mass. Even if I had not done that, my life would have changed on the 28th, but this decision set other things in motion.

In a rare moment, I was cooperating with grace!

During the homily Father Pat Butler asked a question and me being me, I decided to boldly answer it. A brief discussion occurred and as a result I was made known to the community gathered for liturgy. After mass some of the women wanted to talk to me and this also opened the door for me to get to know Father Pat.

Which, if you read this blog at all – has resulted in many things.

This was to end a long cycle of silent, anonymous church attendance and to create a life for Mark, Erica and me that we could not have imagined.

So what on earth does that have to do with today’s readings?

Faith happens in community.

Today’s Gospel from Luke is the story of Emmaus. While many of us know it well, it bears some repeating, as the Gospel always does.  The two disciples are walking along the road when a stranger starts to talk to them. This stranger seems to not know what had just happened, so the two disciples start to tell him the story. They end up inviting him to eat with them and that is when it is revealed in the breaking of the bread… He is Jesus the Risen Lord!

The two were walking away from their community, even if unintentionally. They seem to have given up and are still smarting since they thought that Jesus was “the one.” Well as it turns out, Jesus is of course “the One!”

It is in the meal, it is in community that Jesus is found and our faith comes alive.

That is what happened to me 4 years ago as I was preparing to marry and move to a community where I knew my soon-to-be husband and step-daughter and no one else. I was not walking away dejectedly – no not at all. But I was walking alone and about to become part of a family. And I was committed to church but was I really committed to community?

Recent history had seen me separate from a long standing group of close friends and I had sat silently in pews of Catholic churches that I faithfully attended but never became a part of. My belief and faith were strong enough – but had not fully blossomed.

To encounter Jesus is not just the sustenance of silent, contemplative prayer – although that is a part of prayer – but to encounter Jesus is to be in community. The sacramental nature of the Catholic church is lived out in encounter and grace is mediated in sacrament. This ultimately means that in bread and wine and one another, through Big S and small s sacraments, we encounter Christ.

That is why (no offense intended to those who identify as such – which I once did, a long time ago), being “SBNR” doesn’t make sense to me. Even my being Roman Catholic but doing so in a completely isolated way does not really make sense.

It is not until we are part of community – with all the gifts and burdens that community brings – that our faith can be deepened. Perhaps this means another community besides the Roman Catholic church, but ultimately it is only through and with one another that we truly can meet the God who walks with us as the Christ.

Walk with Christ, come to the table, engage and be a part of the community. That is the message of Emmaus that I experience and that is the ever present invitation from our God who cannot be understood, but experienced.

The Smell of the Resurrection

A reflection on today’s readings, Sunday, April 10, 2011.

“This gorgeous NE Missouri spring morning is the kind of morning that reminds me that the home stretch of Lent is always the hardest–that the smell of the resurrection of nature is just around the corner, and about to burst at the seams–It makes me absolutely itchy for Easter resurrections of all sorts.” – Maria L. Evans

I read the words you see above on Maria’s facebook page; she blogs at Kirkepiscatoid. When I read them, they knocked me back a bit, but that was a few hours ago and I had nothing that I could say about them. Or about today’s readings.

We are coming upon it now… This is the Fifth Sunday of Lent, we’ve been at this awhile and we are tired. Well, I’m tired anyway, I can’t speak for you. I’m really tired. Lent began and my sister-in-law Olga was alive, now she is not. Lent began with death and ashes and it got to be real death and ashes around here. I feel weary and frustrated. I do not doubt but I do get to shaking my fist at God from time to time.

In any case, I read Maria’s words and they rested in my heart. I read Shannon’s blog post about today’s readings. I read Richard Vosko’s homily. I thought about how today is the 56th anniversary of the death of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, SJ. I read about Faith and the Cosmos. I continued to ponder the often angry  and vitriolic dialogue I often encountered on the internet, diatribe that I once participated in and am still tempted to. That made me restless so I watched a TV program about women rabbis, including the first Orthodox woman rabbi, Rabba Sara Hurwitz. (Also featured were Andrea Warnick Buchdahl and Dianne Cohler Esses.)

Nothing. Dry bones in my heart and in my head. There was nothing else that I could do, so I got the leash and Gracie and I headed out to the beautiful day.

I decided to check out a nearby park/path that I had never explored before, so off I went with ideas like the smell of the Resurrection, science and faith, and the ordination of women dancing in my head. The sun was warm and comforting, the scent in the air held promise.  Plus, I was in the mood to go somewhere that I had never been before.

Turning into the parkway and path, I immediately noticed the woods all around. Many of the trees were fallen, strewn like toothpicks after a giants’ banquet. They lay crisscrossed on either side of the path. Some had holes bored into them and I could imagine the din of the woodpecker that left his signature. Some had peeling bark, reminding me of bad sunburns gone worse. Some were just remnants of the fine trees they once were, left to die on the side of the pathway.

Gracie pulled me forward, this was a cornucopia of scents for her, such delight. We crossed one little wooden bridge over a creek and then another. I stopped to look down.

Oh. My. God.

The water that ran was clear and light, it was dancing through the furrow in the dirt. However, it wasn’t the water alone that caught me off-guard, it was the green. Coming up all around were green shoots. Some were more unfurled than others, but they were all there. Evidence of life, new life.

Then there were those fallen trunks. As I walked I began to study them more closely. Some had moss growing on them, others had ferns. Ferns and flowers were pushing up in the open areas too.

Those decomposing trees were giving new life. The dry bones were coming to life, like Lazarus called back! It was the smell of the resurrection made manifest in this patch of forest in my sleepy suburb!

That was it. New life comes all the time, even if I do not expect it or want it. Olga had died, but she comes to new life. Teilhard de Chardin is dead but his ideas are not and he is no longer silenced. Some of my ideas about life took their last breath and I continue to have a hard time letting them go, but die they do and they bring new life.

The bones will come to life, the dead will dance and the spirit will be put into us. I always wonder -will I, will we, be ready?

Hmm, That Can’t Be Him!

A reflection for April 9, 2011.

Today’s Gospel from John, ends with this line:

“Then each went to his own house.”

Of course, each Gospel was written to have meaning beyond basic, literal words, but I am always reminded of how John uses nearly every word to convey something. When I read that line, in the context of the Gospel itself, I am reminded of how we misdirect ourselves.

Let’s step back a moment however and go back to the text of the Gospel verses for today.  We come upon a crowd who upon hearing Jesus arrive at different conclusions.

Some in the crowd who heard these words of Jesus said,
“This is truly the Prophet.”
Others said, “This is the Christ.”
But others said, “The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he?”

As we can see, some of the people present thought they heard a prophet, others knew that this was the Christ but others were quick to say that Jesus was not the Christ at all.

And why not?

Christ was apparently not coming from Galilee!

What a trap we fall into when we “each go to our own house,” to paraphrase the last line of today’s Gospel. When we retreat into our own opinions and go off with them, rather than be in community with understanding that may be difficult to understand, we close off.

One need only open a newspaper, or some so-called Catholic publications, to see who is “in” or “out.” Read many Catholic blogs? It is even worse!

We can all find ways to dissect and eviscerate each other in the name of God. It is very easy to use Scripture, documents and teaching to justify the exclusion of others because… well, because ““The Christ will not come from Galilee, will he?”

Judging others is easy, dismissing them is also done with ease because we want to believe that we know who is who… Perhaps not.

Is our invitation today to meet and encounter the Christ in surprising places? What will happen if we follow Jesus and go places that are not clear? How can we find Jesus if we just go “back to our own house?”

Will we encounter Jesus the Christ? Where will you meet him today?

I Fought the Law and the Law… What Does the Law Mean Anyway?

A Reflection for March 30, 2011

Today’s readings give us some unique bookends to consider regarding the spirit of the law and the letter of the law.

In the first reading, from the book of Deuteronomy, we hear Moses speaking to his people.

“Now, Israel, hear the statutes and decrees
which I am teaching you to observe,
that you may live, and may enter in and take possession of the land
which the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you.
Therefore, I teach you the statutes and decrees
as the LORD, my God, has commanded me,
that you may observe them in the land you are entering to occupy.
Observe them carefully,

And then we read the words of Jesus in the Gospel:

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets.
I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.
Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away,
not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter
will pass from the law,

The law stands – that seems clear, but Jesus looks at how the law is fulfilled in a very different way. It is remarkably easy for most of us to say that Jesus meant one thing or another when we try to live the Gospel.

But is it remarkably easy?

I am always reminded that if the Gospel does not challenge all of us, we are not hearing let alone living the Gospel. That means we don’t just get to read, proclaim, put forth the Gospel about the things that we love and believe in.

If it challenges us,perhaps we can consider that an invitation to go more deeply inside of whatever it is and explore what that means. It would seem to me that Jesus is all about the rules and yet not in any way that most of us, whatever our position is, can truly understand.

 If we can only use the Gospel to clobber others and prop ourselves up, a position that can be so seductively attractive, they maybe we do not live that Gospel at all.

The Gospel and The Church, The Gospel and the church.

Today’s readings provide us with some real challenge… as they should. The Gospel and the Church and the Gospel and the church, small c intentional.

Most days find me deep within my Catholic life (and my catholic life, small c intentional again), accepting the dissonance and the ambiguity of what I am called to by following Christ as a Roman Catholic. I used to get very high-minded and eschew all the seeming hypocrisy. Then I came to slowly and painfully understand the hypocrisy that is part of life. It is part of an active faith to discern willful hypocrisy, but it is also a part of surrender to know that we are all hypocrites. All of that self-righteousness was and what remains of it are barriers to humility.

In any event, I am feeling prickly about big C Catholic Church at the moment. It happens. All relationships grate upon us and if they do not, perhaps that requires some introspection on our parts.

In the first reading from Isaiah, there are some strong words, these among them:

Wash yourselves clean!
Put away your misdeeds from before my eyes;
cease doing evil; learn to do good.
Make justice your aim: redress the wronged,
hear the orphan’s plea, defend the widow.

Those words are meant for each and every one of us, from pauper to prince, from the bottom of the church/Church to the top. I am struck by the idea of learning to do good… learning is a lifelong process for everyone.

However, it was the Gospel from Matthew, that truly caught in my heart, like a hook.

Jesus spoke to the crowds and to his disciples, saying,
“The scribes and the Pharisees
have taken their seat on the chair of Moses.
Therefore, do and observe all things whatsoever they tell you,
but do not follow their example.
For they preach but they do not practice.
They tie up heavy burdens hard to carry
and lay them on people’s shoulders,
but they will not lift a finger to move them.
All their works are performed to be seen.
They widen their phylacteries and lengthen their tassels.

That’s pretty clear but I can think of numerous examples where this Gospel is defied and mocked in Church and church life.

It could be a cleric, bedecked in all sorts of finery, seemingly casually dismissing members of our flock in a public manner. It could be the pious person of good intentions who makes their public devotions but with harsh judgments of others.

It could be and often is me, trying to be simple and good, but so often being anything but.

That is the thing about the Gospel. It is an invitation and challenge to each and every person on the earth.

And I think, I imagine that it is only when we read it as both participants and as recipients of the messages, in ways that are joyful some days and painful on others, that the Gospel springs to life.

So what about the Church and the church? The Church, with all of its many flaws is who we are as God’s people. The church with all of its virtues needs more than its own path.

And perhaps it is the tension between those very poles which is the place in which our faith comes to life and the only place in which we can be redeemed.

For good or ill, this is the Church that has brought us Flannery O’Connor, Oscar Romero, St. Francis of Assisi and others who exemplify the Gospel and challenge us to a different way of living… and that is but 3 people, there are countless others.

Let us always try to examine who we are in all the parts of the story, that is really the idea of the Gospel and the Church, the Gospel and the church.

(In an related but unrelated note, I’d like to link to this post at People for Others, about a book that sounds fantastic. The book is called Why Stay Catholic? Unexpected Answers to a Life-Changing Question, by Michael Leach. Even on my worst days, I rarely can imagine not being Catholic and it would appear that this book is a reflection of what many of us who are Catholic feel and believe.)

P.S. – and may we all recall  yesterday’s Gospel and the call to be merciful!

Be Merciful

I did not receive any submissions for Lenten reflections for the parish blog for the weekend and I did not have time to post myself. I did not plan on writing anything today. However today’s readings presented me with a simple message, which spoke to me from the Gospel of  Luke.

Jesus said to his disciples:
“Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

“Stop judging and you will not be judged.
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
Give and gifts will be given to you;
a good measure, packed together, shaken down, and overflowing,
will be poured into your lap.
For the measure with which you measure
will in return be measured out to you.”

Why don’t I get this Gospel assigned to me in my preaching class? Oh well, I haven’t and I probably won’t but I will write about it today!

There is one message here – be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Why is this so hard to do? I know that I am not so good at it, I get angry so easily and how I love to judge.

So today, I will simply try to be present to each moment that I am in and be merciful. I suspect that this will be akin to scaling Everest, but I will give it a try.

Will you join me?