October
5 , 2008
Violence
and Life
On
Retreat
Every month, my classmates and I gather for prayer, conversation and
a meal -- we’ve been doing this for a quarter of a century. Every
five years we go away on retreat together -- we find a local retreat
center and spend the week in reflection and prayer. But we promised
ourselves that when we reached our silver anniversary that we would
make our retreat in Rome. So for the next 12 days, I’ll be joining
my classmates in a retreat -- first for some days in Umbria (allowing
us to pray in places like Assisi), and later in Rome (where Father Augustine
promises to meet us).
So take care of the place while I’m gone. I don’t expect
to have much internet access there, but I might get to post a photo
or two on the parish website.
Know that you’ll all be in my prayers during these retreat days
and I’ll look forward to coming home with tales from the “home
office.” Please pray for me too. I’ll see you after October
17th.
e-mail Father Ralph:
Past
Columns:
Sept 28: Flip Flopping
Sept 21: Congratulations
Socorro!
Sept 14: Lift High the Cross
Sept 7: Happy 90th Birthday
August 31: From "saint"
to "Satan"
August 24: So you're not
the Pope
August 17: When God says
"no"
August 10: The Tiny Whispering
Sound
August 3: A Proud and Tender
Moment
July 27: What
would you ask for?
July 20: Waiting
for the Wheat
July
13: What we Wear
uly
6: We Welcome Westbrook
June
29: Sommer in the Summer
June 22: Welcome
Father Jaime
June 15: Father
Gonzalo Lopez
June 8: What happened
on Sunday
June 1: Where
do you belong?
May
25: We are the Body of Christ
May 18: Trinity,
It's About Unity
May 11: We are
One in the Spirit
May 4: Who's in
Your Top Twelve?
April 27: Now
that he's gone...
April 20: Yay
Deacons!
April 13: Here
comes the Pope
April 6: Fresh Oil
March 30: What are you doing
for Easter?
March 23: Can Easter come
too early?
March 16: Which crowd is
yours?
March 9: We believe, yet...
March 2: Oil or Mud
February
24: What are you thirsting for?
February 17: Who are You
Wearing?
February 10: Just Say No
February
3: The January
20: Being Safer
January 13: Conversations
in 2008
January 6: Matthew's Magi
December 30:
What's Next?
Columns from
2007
Columns
from 2005
Columns
from 2004
Columns
from 2003
Columns from 2002
The
story Jesus tells in the gospel today about a vineyard owner’s servants
being beaten and stoned and killed seems far from our experience. Yet
for some of our St. Brigid’s parishioners, the story is all too
real. They grew up in the midst of a terrible civil war where they awoke
to find the dead bodies of their neighbors, friends and relatives lying
in the streets outside of their homes. Some of our parishioners were beaten,
tortured and frequently threatened. And even though they immigrated to
the United States years ago, even the mention of this gospel story brings
back memories of the evils people do.
I know veterans who also cringe
at this violent story. Many of them saw firsthand the carnage of war --
they saw fellow soldiers injured and killed, and witnessed the destruction
of human life of friend and foe alike.
I know people who still cry from abortions they experienced -- the loss
of life of their own child or grandchild or the pain they saw in those
close to them because of this destruction of this most fragile form of
human life.
But incredibly, the story Jesus tells ends so differently from how Jesus’
personal story ends. In the parable, the vineyard owner puts the killers
to a “wretched death,” yet when Jesus himself is killed, those
responsible are NOT destroyed. God’s ultimate judgment is flooded
with mercy and “forgive them, they know not what they do”
is the final word.
On this Respect Life Sunday, we’re
urged by the church to help build a culture in which every human life
without exception is respected and defended and to rededicate ourselves
to defending the basic rights of those who are weakest and most marginalized:
the poor, the homeless, the innocent unborn, and the frail and elderly
who need our respect and our assistance.
At St. Brigid’s we continue
to reach out with support and healing love to any victims of violence.
If you know of someone in your family who still suffers post-war, post-abortion,
or abuse-related trauma, continue to reach out to them with the mercy
and grace of God.
