Reflection for the 26th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2019

Gut
check.

I charge you before God, who gives life to all things, and before Christ Jesus, who gave testimony under Pontius Pilate for the noble confession, to keep the commandment without stain or reproach until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ

Today, the Holy Church in choosing its readings and Gospel, provides us with three quick punches to the gut, a real gut check.

Amos once again is prophesying against the failures of God’s people. Imagine, God Who loves His people deeply, is forced to look at the wholesale disregard, the coldness, His people live in. Their hearts grew distant, not just from Him and His love, but from their very neighbors. The world was falling to pieces around them. Leaders, faithless and self-centered. As long as they were comfortable, nothing else mattered. There was increasing disparity between the very wealthy and the very poor. God witnesses the glaring lack of social justice, a society living on corruption and the oppression of the poor and helpless. Even religion was corrupted, every belief and practice blended together to please the crowds. The wealthy and well-heeled thought that the superficial stuff they did could stave off economic failure, distress (for the rich), and invasion. They didn’t have to dedicate their whole selves to God; they only had to go through the motions. Amos points them to the natural and supernatural consequences of living that way. His words were echoed by Dr. Martin Luther King and others who call us back to covenant with God, to get out of our complacency and back to where we must be if we truly love the God who saves us. Gut check.

In Paul’s letter to Timothy, he reminds Timothy of his call in the fullness of the Apostolic Priesthood. No, the clergy are not exempt from living fully in Jesus, to being 100% witnesses to His salvation. He warns people like me to put aside all complacency: But you, man of God, pursue righteousness, devotion, faith, love, patience, and gentleness. Gut check.

Jesus’ parable of Lazarus and the rich man runs a total of 295 words, with 21% dedicated to the set-up, and 79% dedicated to outcomes. As with anyone facing up to their consequences, the bed they made, all the bargaining in eternity makes no difference. Jesus tells us that if we are His we get it. We have listened and have not put off doing. Too late? No, but our gut check time is now. Let us set to work!

Blessing of the Pets at All Holy Masses on October 6th

In commemoration of St. Francis of Assisi, Holy Name of Jesus at 1040 Pearl Street, Schenectady, will hold a Blessing of the Pets on Sunday, October 6th at both 9:30am and 11:30am Holy Mass.

People often ask: Is it ok to bring my pet to church with me? Can they actually come in the church? Our answer is YES! You Can. Yes! They can.

Bring your pet (dogs, cats, hamsters, gerbils, birds, fish, ferrets, turtles, lizards, any beloved animal) with you to Holy Mass or a special St. Francis blessing. They will be blessed individually as part of a special service that honor God’s creation and also recalls those beloved pets we may have lost.

Blessed are you, Lord God, Maker of all living creatures, On the fifth and sixth days of creation you called forth fish in the sea, birds in the air and animals on the land. You inspired St. Francis to call all animals his brothers and sisters. We ask you to bless these animals. By the power of your love enable them to live according to your plan. May we always praise you for all your beauty in creation. Blessed are you, Lord our God, in all your creatures! Amen.

If you wish, bring a pet food or treat to donate. They will be donated to a local humane rescue shelter.

Employment Opportunities

Castle Island Bilingual Montessori, an independent school in Downtown Albany, is seeking an English/Spanish Bilingual Administrative Assistant, $15/hr, 20hr/wk, start date 10/1/19. Castle Island is a nonprofit independent school in Downtown Albany offing a unique educational program immersed in English and Spanish in a Montessori learning environment. Children at our school are from areas throughout the region and their families pay tuition on a sliding-scaled based on annual household income. Classrooms are mixed-aged and the lessons are presented by the teachers to the children one-on-one with hands on materials. Children are spoken to with respect and are guided to work at their own pace. The Bilingual Administrative Assistant has duties to include: greeting students, parents, and visitors to the school; answering the phone; organizing office files; maintaining billing records; and other tasks assigned by the school director.  Hours are M-F 1:30-5:30pm, Wages $15/hour. Qualifications include being fluent in English/Spanish; Associates degree or higher in bookkeeping/office management preferred. Please email resume & 3 professional references to Diane M. Nickerson, School Director by Wednesday, September 25, 2019.

Castle Island also has an open job position for an After Care Teacher, $12/hr, 12.5hr/wk, start date ASAP. Contract through 2019-2020 school year calendar. Duties include following the lead of the after care coordinator to monitor children ages 3-9 with activities including: eating snacks, outdoor play, indoor play, clean-up, circle-time with a story or song. Hours are M-F 3-5:30PM, Wages $12/hour. Qualifications include an Associates Degree or higher in education. Experience in childcare or education of 2+ years. Please email resume & 3 educational or professional references to Diane M. Nickerson, School Director.

Outreach and Training Coordinator with the Northeast New York Coalition for Occupational Safety and Health (NENYCOSH). NENYCOSH is a non-profit organization that provides valuable programs for workers and employers aimed at reducing workplace injuries, illnesses, and deaths. We do this by providing training and technical assistance on a wide range of occupational health and safety topics. Salary: $30,000 – $40,000 / year, commensurate with experience. The ideal individual would possess the following skills: Demonstrated interest in social justice issues including, but not limited to, workers rights, immigrants’ rights, and environmental/occupational health, Organized and able to manage their time effectively, Able to work collaboratively, Excellent interpersonal communication skills, Excellent writing skills, and Highly motivated. Responsibilities include: Conducting outreach to local organizations, non-profits, and unions to collaborate in offering workplace health and safety trainings to populations of vulnerable workers. Coordinating various aspects of the trainings, including scheduling training, securing space for the trainings, and communicating with the host organization to schedule trainings. Conducting evaluation of trainings with community partners and participants. Attending community meetings, events, and other meetings as necessary to conduct outreach and schedule trainings. Assist Director with development of curriculum and other training materials, delivering 2-3hr trainings to various community groups and organizations. Qualifications: ·      Bachelor’s Degree preferred. Minimum of 3-5 years’ experience working with low-wage workers, immigrant/refugee, youth, homeless populations, or other groups of vulnerable workers. Experience in making presentations and facilitating workshops. Ability to speak Spanish or another language representative of our worker population is preferred. Job Details: This is currently a full-time position – 35 hours per week. However, candidates who prefer part-time work will be considered. This position includes paid sick leave and vacation time. Position does not include health care insurance nor a paid pension. Please submit a cover letter, resume, and three references by E-mail. Applications will be accepted until the position is filled.

Mary Michael Shelley Retrospective at New York Folklore in Schenectady

Artist and Ithaca resident Mary Michael Shelley (AKA Folk Art Mary) will have a rare retrospective show of her hand carved and painted artwork this fall at New York Folklore, located at 129 Jay Street in downtown Schenectady.  There will be an artist meet and greet, carving demonstration and light refreshments on Friday, October 4th from 3 PM to 5:30 PM.   Works in the show will span 30 years and chart the development of the artist’s work.

Shelley lives in Ithaca, NY, the heart of the Finger Lakes region. She has been making her carved picture stories for 45 years and has produced more than 2,000 works, many of them featuring New York upstate themes.

The artist’s work is in the American Folk Art Museum, the American Museum in Britain, the High Museum, The Smithsonian Institution (White House Easter Egg Collection), and The National Museum of Women and the Arts, The Fenimore Art Museum (Cooperstown, NY) and Women’s Rights National Historical Park (Seneca Falls, NY), and on summer weekends at the Ithaca Farmer’s Market.

The exhibit will be at New York Folklore through early January, 2020.  New York Folklore is open 10AM to 4PM, Tuesday through Saturday, and 10AM to 2PM Sundays.  Please contact us at 518-346-7008, or through our website for additional information.

Bible Study for the 25th Week in Ordinary Time 2019

This week’s memory verse: Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.

Philippians 2:4
  • 9/22 – Psalm 15:5
  • 9/23 – Leviticus 25:36
  • 9/24 – Ezekiel 18:17
  • 9/25 – Nehemiah 5:1-13
  • 9/26 – 1 Corinthians 4:5
  • 9/27 – Ezekiel 18:9
  • 9/28 – Romans 13:8

Pray the week: Lord, grant that I may be shrewd in the ways of eternal life. Grant that I may prepare diligently for Your return in all that I do.

Reflection for the 25th Sunday in Ordinary Time 2019

Being
shrewd.

Hear this, you who trample upon the needy and destroy the poor of the land! “When will the new moon be over,” you ask, “that we may sell our grain, and the sabbath, that we may display the wheat?

The beginning of our first reading is a perfect set up for trying to understand one of Jesus’ most difficult teachings. The reading condemns those who are literally sitting around waiting for the end of the new moon (the beginning of each Hebrew month marked as a holiday much like parts of Passover would be) or the Sabbath, so they can go back to work – and not just any work – but work that defrauds their customers. How many people do we know, so anxious about tomorrow that they miss the blessings of a Sunday? So anxious, they defraud God of the worship due Him?

Much like the thieving merchants of Amos’ time, the master and his steward were both thieves. Recall that charging interest on loans was forbidden in the Bible because it exploited the vulnerable poor, yet that is what they both did. Jesus’ hearers would know that the debt contracts of the master and steward included exorbitant interest hidden from illiterate peasants – a cut for everyone rich enough to control the terms. Today’s analogies may be high-interest student loans, credit card debt, and predatory pay-day loans. Wealthy landlords and stewards in Jesus’ day created other ways to charge interest often hiding it by rolling it into the principal. Hidden interest rates up to 50 percent! The steward, once confronted, set out to shrewdly protect himself, to act smartly for his own benefit.

All this selfishness and self-preservation, and we would think Jesus would roundly condemn all the players. Yet, oddly, Jesus doesn’t. Instead, he lauds the steward for his cleverness, with an additional complement to “children of this age” (those who were not His followers), for their shrewdness.

The lesson we can take from this teaching is that being shrewd requires we know what rules our hearts, that we know Who we serve, and that we take decisive action to change our ways in light of the coming judgment. If we serve wealth and self-preservation for their own sake, we will fail. But if we shrewdly (i.e., wisely) work for God, placing Him first in all we do – on Sundays, with money, with what we have, in acting compassionately toward the poor and suffering, we will enjoy the blessings of life with God because we cannot “serve both God and mammon.“

Reflection for the 24th Sunday in Ordinary Time and BACK TO CHURCH SUNDAY 2019

Yes!
TOGETHER!

This saying is trustworthy and deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am the foremost. But for that reason I was mercifully treated, so that in me, as the foremost, Christ Jesus might display all his patience as an example for those who would come to believe in him for everlasting life.

Welcome BACK TO CHURCH! If this is your first time visiting with us, we want you to know how happy we are. If you are longstanding faithful parishioners, we want you to know how happy we are.

You may be thinking to yourselves, why is he happy, why should the community be happy if I am here? Maybe he is just one of those pastors who is happy at just about anything?

Well, yeah, but that’s not the point.

The real point of our joy is the same point St. Paul was making about himself. Paul was overjoyed because he was taken from a life without meaning, without purpose, without hope, to a life regenerated – new life in Christ Jesus. He had eternal life in Jesus and the joy of now working TOGETHER in the community of faith. He received mercy, not allowance to continue his own way, but the mercy necessary to be changed into the very image of Jesus in communities throughout the Mediterranean.

For those who are joining us for the first time, for the first time in a while, or are here again, returning faithfully and diligently, today’s call is about rejoicing in knowing Jesus deeper and better, to experience His exorbitant mercy, and to be changed into His image in our world.

Relying on Jesus and being His image is not an easy choice. It is not popular – and definitely puts us into the core countercultural movement of our time, but so it was with Paul and all the early Christ followers. Paul counted it as mercy – to be saved from sin into a new life that actually mattered, and he worked together with others to spread knowledge of that salvation. Paul stood as an example of what is possible in Jesus, and so must we.

Today, and each week we are happy you are here. We are happy that the mercy of Jesus is so all encompassing, so total, that He will not leave any behind. We are happy because now together, in Jesus, we celebrate and rejoice.

September 2019 Newsletter – Living All-In

you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

What does it mean to be all-in with God? Throughout Church history we have confronted the problem of minimalism. It is the problem of just doing enough. It seems somewhat counterintuitive. If we love something or someone, we want to do more than we are even able. We stretch ourselves, we exceed our perceived boundaries, and reach for the stars for the one we love. Yet, not many do that with God or His community, the Holy Church. Priests would tell you that in hearing someone’s confession, there are two types of sorrow the penitent may have for the sake of absolution. They can have ‘attrition,’ that is a fear of punishment or they can have ‘contrition,’ a deep sorrow for having offended God, for having broken relationship with Him. While both qualify as adequate, attrition is minimalistic – only that which is absolutely, barely necessary. I remember being told as a teen the minimums required for Holy Mass. I could arrive and stay from the Gospel to Communion, and then leave. It was just enough. Some (and it rarely ever happens in our parish) use the bare minimum as their way of dealing with God and His community. Yet, a God who calls us to be all-in with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength will not look kindly on a love that is loafing or limping or lowest common denominator. His call to us is to live love deeply, wholly, and completely. Our own consciences call us to that truth. There is much for us to do as we enter the month of September. The Solemnity of Brotherly Love reminds us of Jesus’ all-in call to love God and neighbor. BACK TO CHURCH Sunday calls us to take action – to invite and build up the church with at least a 25% gain in active participation. This new season reminds us that we have the opportunity to renew our own faith and participation in God’s community to the maximum. Let us live that call and be all-in.

September is here and the calendar is full of events that bring us together and renew great friendships. We have the Solemnity of Brotherly Love, BACK TO CHURCH SUNDAY, and regular worship and fellowships that renews and strengths us for the journey together.

Come, be All-In together.

Read more in our September 2019 Newsletter.

Bible Study for the Week of Brotherly Love 2019

This week’s memory verse: Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

Romans 12:10
  • 9/8 – Hebrews 13:1
  • 9/9 – 1 John 4:20
  • 9/10 – John 13:34
  • 9/11 – John 15:13
  • 9/12 – 1 John 4:7
  • 9/13 – 1 Peter 3:8
  • 9/14 – 1 Thessalonians 4:9

Pray the week: Lord, grant us ever increasing brotherly love and the strength to act out of love in every situation.