Love As God Loves

Dear Parishioners,

It is not uncommon for someone who was raised in a strict household to rebel some… either as a teen or young adult. After we have done our share of willfully ignoring the wisdom of our elders, we might look back and wish we could have spared ourselves the wreckage we inflicted upon ourselves. We may have learned that their boundaries were for our well-being. This is the context in which today’s Gospel should be received. Instead of looking at them as just rules to restrict our freedom. Hear these precepts in a new way.

The original precepts or laws of God to Moses were intended to be written on their hearts. But because of the hardness of their hearts, they continued to sin and ignore God’s plan for them. Thankfully, when the time was right, God sent Jesus to us, not to abolish the law, but to fulfill it so that our hearts would soar, our friendships flourish, and our love of God be more passionate. Jesus revealed that God did not want simple behavior compliance, but rather that we would have an interior transformation, so that we would live by the Spirit which would exceed the mandates of the law. Imagine a marriage that was simply about behavior compliance. That sounds more like forced slavery to me.

This weekend we celebrated National Marriage Week. In this covenant of love, husbands and wives strive to live out the promise to love as God loves in a particular way by giving of each other without condition. Anyone who is married knows that the Sacrament isn’t about rules, yet without the boundaries that cradle the awesome covenant we call matrimony, it would decay from the inside out. I think it is safe to say that on their wedding day, most couples have hope that their marriage would bring a lifetime of love and intimacy.

So the call for marriage is to imitate God’s love by dedicating oneself to service for their spouse and be open to the children conceived from their love. In other words, their vocation is to love as God loves. Through the highs and lows, the ecstasies and crucibles of marriage, each spouse’s vocation is to help the other become more of what God desires for them. More than ever today, we need to lift up couples and this divine institution, that’s right, an institution created by God and not us.

Among many of the aspects of marital love, the conjugal relationship of marriage holds within it one of the greatest “super powers” we humans have, and that is to co-create life with God. Pope John Paul II in his monumental teaching on marriage, now called the Theology of the Body, spoke about this aspect of marital union as a way to touch heaven. The passion of love in the “marital embrace,” as he describes it, touches the divine. And if we think about it, our lives are made for infinity-for ecstasy, and our hearts know it.

Pope Benedict XVI in his first Encyclical, “God is Love,” shared that we are an integral person, body and soul, and that when our bodies love through an undisciplined eros (think erotic love without boundaries), we we degrade ourselves. But when it is disciplined (again think ordered or given boundaries), it can provided “not just fleeting pleasure, but a certain foretaste of the pinnacle of our existence, of that beatitude for which our whole being yearns.” Our being already yearns for heaven whether we know it or not. We were made for heaven. And the perfections of married life are intended to point us to heaven, where the Blessed Trinity, a communion of love, resides.

So, I want to encourage and thank all of our married couples for their daily example of sacrificial and passionate love you show to your spouse. Such a commitment encourages the rest of us who are not married to be faithful to our own vocations. I also want to let those who have broken marriages or marriages that have grown distant or worse, harmful, that you are not a failure. God’s love for you has not been lessened. His mercies are renewed each morning. In fact, our Lord has a special care for you who suffer in their marriage. And for those of you who are widows or widowers,  it is clear throughout the whole of the Scriptures that God has compassion for you.

Love is Found in Service and Ministry

Dear Parishioners,

Spring has sprung, albeit in a very wet way. Yet, we all know we need the precipitation given our drought situation. In addition, many of our ministries are becoming more active after being shuddered or reduced due to the threat of the pandemic. It has been heart-warming to see many parishioners who have been away return to regular attendance at Mass. Last weekend, we had our annual Spring Cleaning event. I hope you noticed how much better the campus looks. A big thank you needs to go out to Kirk Chapman of our Maintenance Committee who lead the charge of this wonderful event and all who participated in it.

In this weekend’s Gospel, we hear from Jesus, ‘I give you a new commandment: love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another. This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.’” Our Lord created the Church, founded upon Peter as the first leader, so that we would be able to live out this commandment more easily and allow it to energize us to go out and love others. This is done in many ways, including the ministries of the parish. Thank God our ministries are starting to come back to life again so that we can get busy about living out this new commandment from our Lord.

Here is a simple list of the ministries winding up again at St. Anne:

• “Newcomer’s Ice Cream Social” which will take place this Sunday at 1:30 PM in the Sky Room. If you are new to our parish in the last two years or so, please consider coming. We will have, of course, ice cream with various toppings. The leaders of various ministries will be present to help you get acquainted with the activities and mission of our parish.  

• This Saturday (May 14), we witnessed the return of our school’s BINGO & Spaghetti Dinner. 

• One of the most important ministries is that of funerals. Connected to our funerals is our ability to offer receptions afterwards. In this regard, I hope that our Funeral Reception Teams will return so that we can host these important receptions again. 

• I have been told, as of this writing, that we may very well have Coffee & Donuts after the Sunday Masses this very weekend. Ah! Yes! Coffee & Donuts, the eighth sacrament!  Just kidding of course. I have a feeling this ministry may need more help with set up and take down of tables as well as cleaning.

• The removal of the temporary 9 AM Sunday Mass which we had added due to COVID, means that we can start hosting other events between the Masses on Sunday’s such as “Catholicism 101."

At Our Lady of the River, the community was quickly able to start up Coffee & Donuts after Mass once the mask mandates were dropped. At St. Patrick of the Forest, I hope, they will be able to do similar soon. I know that they have are will soon restarted their Pastoral and Administrative Council meetings. 

None of this would be possible had people not responded in faith to God’s prompting. Please pray and ask God how you are being called to participate in these or other ministries of our parish and/or missions. We are called to be in greater communion with our Lord, and he wants us, consequently, to be in greater communion with each other. Participating in any of these and other ministries of our parish or missions, is a magnificent way to encounter God and his people. And by doing so, others will come to know that we are His disciples.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

One Year Later... Where Is Our Hope?

Dear Parishioners,

Last week, our world memorialized the near shutdown caused by the global pandemic. Last week marked the stoppage of most of those things we hold dear such as going to church, in-class learning for schools, eating out at restaurants, gathering with friends, working in an office with other employees, and more. Quarantines were set in place for those who may have been exposed to the virus. Businesses shut down. People were sequestered in their homes and could not visit other family or friends. People’s addictions and mental illness became worse. Many lost their jobs and some businesses closed for good. More tragically, over a half a million people lost their lives due to the effects of COVID-19 either directly or indirectly. Suicide rates climbed. Each of us likely know someone who fell ill due to coronavirus and many of us know someone who even died. These are some of the dark sides to the pandemic. A question that many have asked is, where is God in all of this? Does he care that we are suffering? Such questions are reasonable and answers can be shrouded in mystery. If the Father sent his Son so that we would not perish (cf. John 3:16), then where has he been this whole time? Let me offer a response. While God’s permissive will allows for sin and evil, including pandemics, that does not mean he doesn’t care. Indeed, he cares more than anyone, and his response is more profound and eternal than a quick fix.

God has been in the hands of first responders, doctors, nurses, and respiratory therapists. He has been in the work of scientists who found a way to create therapies that help people fight off sickness from COVID-19. He has been in some of the work of politicians who have been scrambling amidst the divisiveness of the political environment to secure financial aid to those in need and protections for the most vulnerable. God has been in the ministers and laity of churches who reached out to pray and accompany those who were sick, sometimes putting themselves in harms way. He has been present in those who could only visit via an outer window of a nursing facility to let their loved ones know that they are not alone. God has been with teachers and staff who worked beyond their training in order to allow children to receive the best education possible given the restrictions placed upon them. God has been in the work of the myriads of people who have made efforts to call or write letters to those who were most isolated and vulnerable. God has been present in the efforts to bring food to the  poor or those who lost their jobs and struggled with food insecurity. He has been in the truck drivers and distributors of food, grocery employees, utility workers, and construction workers. God has been present in people who have spent extra time, energy, and money to communicate helpful and uplifting content as well as make more easily available the tools to communicate via the Internet. The list goes on and on. 

We are approaching Holy Week which begins with Palm Sunday. In these coming liturgies, we are given the ultimate answer, by the Father through Jesus, how much we are loved and cared for by God. In His Paschal Mystery, our Lord definitively answers the question with which I began this letter. He set in motion the ultimate response to suffering and death in our world. He sent his Son to take on our suffering, sin, and death. He became that grain of wheat that fell and died, only to rise again in glory. In doing all of this, Jesus Christ allied himself with humanity’s fallenness, was lifted high on the cross, and died for our sins. He pulled humanity through death and rose from the dead so that we too could rise with him when our final day comes. He has redeemed us and opened Heaven for us, that place where we hope to live in ecstasy with God, the Angels, and Saints forever!

This is the hope in which we find meaning. This is the consolation we have for those who have suffered so much in the pandemic. It is the divine mercy in which we place our trust for those who have died. It is the Good News, the center of the Christian faith, the reason why the Church exists, and the message we need to be reminded of and share with others. 

May the light of our faith shine ever brighter despite and through the darkness of the pandemic and other tragedies which befall us. Remember, Christ is the way, the truth, and the life. Let us surrender all our worries, losses, and concerns to him. We surrender ourselves to you, Jesus. Take care of everything!

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor

Marriage and the Eucharist: Covenants of Love

Dear Parishioners,

Last week we celebrated the Most Holy Trinity, a mystery revealed to us by Christ himself. I reflected on an aspect of this mystery as a communion of love. Another way of putting it is a “covenant of love.” A covenant is different than a contract, though there are similarities. One similarity is that both are an agreement to enter into a relationship. But, it is the difference between a contract and a covenant that makes a covenant rise above. 

A contract enters into a relationship with parties whereby the minimal requirements are agreed upon. For example, the price for a car or a house. We all will seek out an agreement with the seller for a price we are willing to pay, a price that is the lowest we can get. This illustrates how a contract is about the minimal or least the parties will do for each other.

A covenant is an agreement between parties that does not spell out the minimal requirements, the LEAST that we can do. No! A covenant spells out the MOST the parties will do! An example is marriage. This weekend and next, we will celebrate our first two full weddings! Yea! At each wedding, the couple will vow their unconditional love to each other. They will not set boundaries as to what is the least they will do for the other. Nope! They will vow to all of themselves to each other, “in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health... all the days of [their lives]” There are no conditions! They will vow to share and give of their whole selves in love for the other. This includes their mind, soul, and bodies. The two will become “one flesh.” Their vows are sacrificial in essence, not secondarily or coincidentally. They will become a sign of Christ’s love for all of us to see and remember, Jesus being the bridegroom, us being the bride.

This sacred covenant is connected deeply to today’s solemnity, Corpus Christi, where we celebrate the great covenant given to us by the bridegroom, Jesus. He also pledged to be with us through our good times and bad... to love us all the days of our lives. Christ, in the image of a bridegroom, has sacrificed himself for us, his bride. He suffered greatly due to our infidelity, yet never left us. He was rendered naked, yet unashamed, for he freely took on all our shame. Despite our infidelities, he continued to be always faithful. He was innocent and still chose us despite our guilt. 

When we receive the Eucharist, we consummate our covenant with our Lord. He becomes “one flesh” with us, rather, us with Him! He pulls us and woos us to himself. By his dying, he proved his perfect love for us. Yet, he never left us. His sacramental presence assures us of his continual presence. In this way, he accompanies us on our journey of life. The Eucharist becomes for us our spousal renewal of love. He has prepared a place for us and awaits so that he can lift us up through the threshold of heaven. Every time we come to Mass, we renew our vows of faith in our Savior. And we know he never disappoints. He is always perfectly patient with us. He speaks loving words of guidance through the Scriptures. And since Jesus isn’t just a man, but also God, we worship him, adore him, and dedicate our lives to him. May this Corpus Christi bring us a profound understanding of this Sacrament as well as the Sacrament of Marriage.

Blessings,

Fr. William Holtzinger
Pastor