July 13, 2003
Nothing for the journey
Sommer
in the Summer
I’ve still got a few dates over the next three weeks when , I’ve
got a chance to get together in parishioner’s homes to get to know
people better and to talk about whatever issues or questions people
have about life, God, the church, etc.
I’ve been doing this for 20 years and I’ve gotten to know
some really wonderful people and I’ve eaten some really great desserts.
If you’re interested, talk to your friends about when they can
get together and then give me a call or e-mail me to set a date. This
usally works best with around a dozen people. It could be a group of
your neighbors or senior citizens or a group of young people or families
with kids or... you decide.
Then make dessert!
Want
to e-mail Father Ralph?
Past Columns:
July 6: God at Home
June 29: Going in Stages
June 22: Sommer in the Summer
June 15: Our Newest Priest
Ordained
June 8: The Feast of Pentecost
June 1: Beyond First Communion
May 24: Felicidades Manuel
May 18: Twenty Years Later
May 11: Bows for Peace
May 4: Upcoming Ordinations
April 27: One Heart One
Mind
April 20: Amazingly Graced
Days
April 13: Ashes to Palms
April 6:
God Embedded
March 30:
Pastoral Visits
March 23:
Turning Tables
March
16: Transfiguring Imagination
March
9: Beasts and Angels
March 2:
Lent and Imagination
Feb 23: Sorrow
Far and Wide
Feb 16: Saints
Feb 9: Columbia Lessons
Feb2: Giving At A Difficult
Time
Jan 26: Penny Power
& Catholic Schools
Jan19: Yet Another
Year
Jan 12: Stealing Jesus
Jan5: The Wise Still Come
From Afar
Columns from 2002
I think I’m going to do some time in
purgatory for the ways I haven’t lived the gospel in my life. This
Sunday’s gospel (Mark 6:7-13) is a particularly difficult one for
me. Jesus says to his disciples “take nothing for the journey”.
Yet here I am on vacation (in an undisclosed location) having packed every
square inch of my car with “stuff”.
And it’s not snorkeling equipment or
tennis rackets... it’s stuff that “I’ve been meaning to
get to”: Books and magazines to catch up on, my laptop computer so
I can work on new sections of the parish website that I’ve been wanting
to do for a while, a little left-over paperwork. Some vacation!!
I can’t get the hang of this Sunday’s
gospel. I can’t let go. It’s the pack-rat in me. I realized
when I moved here two years ago that I had unopened boxes from my first
assignment as a priest -- I had kept them for 12 years without ever looking
in them. Hey who knows? I might need that stuff some day (whatever that
stuff is). and who knows, one day I might actually have the time to open
those boxes and look through them. (Dream on.)
There are some things I wouldn’t ever
want to give up -- memories for one. I have such beautiful memories of
the people in my life (and yes, a lot of them are on videotapes which
I plan to watch someday). The memories of people whom I take with me for
the journey strengthen me and give me comfort.
I do understand what Jesus asks us to do
in sending us with nothing for the journey. He wants the encounters of
each day to be unencumbered by the past. We ought to be able to experience
each new relationship for what it is -- not reduce it to a comparison
with the past. Our encounters with each new person ought not be bogged
down by old baggage. We ought to be free to see each person as a new gift
from God and to appreciate each person for who they are.
Maybe in the two weeks ahead I’ll have
a chance to get rid of the stuff I brought with me and come back free.
Or maybe I’ll just fall asleep in the hammock and get to this “stuff”
another day.
You are Person
