January 19, 2020: Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

Now I have seen and testified that He is the Son of God. 
                                                                           - John 1: 34

Last month I celebrated Mass at the Atrium, a facility for those with memory-impaired issues. It is always interesting to celebrate Mass at a nursing home, but a place like the Atrium has its own unique set of challenges. As I was celebrating Mass, various conversations were taking place as well as comments directed at me that had nothing to do with the Mass. When that happens you simply need to keep going and ignore the noise. It was clear that many of the people were Catholic but may not have been connected to what was being celebrated. But, as in all things it is important not to make judgments until you get to the end of an experience. And then, something fascinating occurred when we began to pray the Our Father: in that moment everyone stopped and prayed and it was done in perfect unison. It was then that I understood all I needed to know. In the depth of their being—though much had been lost regarding memory—when push came to shove, their connection with God was still there.

It also demonstrated to me the importance of what we learn as children. The reality is that with most forms of dementia the memories you lose are the most recent, and as the disease progresses you lose more and more. But what remains are memories from our earliest years. Clearly these people had learned the Our Father early in their lives. And it remained a potent part of their connection with the world and with their God. It was truly humbling to witness and experience this moment. It was a clear reminder to me of why I was there. It is easy in a situation like that to think, why bother since they don’t even know what’s going on. But the deeper reality is that God knows how to connect with us even if we are not always capable of understanding what is happening around us.

We all can get lost in our relationship with God. Sometimes it arises from something beyond our control, like the people in the Atrium. But many times, we lose our way based on the choices we make. And the further we move away from God, the harder it becomes to see or hear Him in our lives. In a real sense we start to lose our memory of God. We forget what it is to have God in our lives. It doesn’t simply become a distant memory—but no memory at all. The peace and joy that comes from God’s active presence in our lives becomes less real to us and seems not to matter at all. Our faith life slowly diminishes and if we participate at all in the ritual life of faith, it becomes empty of any meaning. Faith no longer has a grounding or foundation to it, and we are set adrift with nothing to moor us to the shore.

Life becomes more and more about activities and discovering ourselves, or rather, inventing ourselves. The meaning of life is discovered in whatever the individual determines. Truth and identity and all that grounds us becomes fluid and self-determinative. There are no such things as objective truth or natural law. Life is not determined by any reference to the Creator’s will or plan, but rather to my truth: if the Creator is real, just and loving, then his plan should match up with mine. No real God would want me to suffer. No loving God would want me to deny how I understand my true self. A benevolent God would want me to express myself as I find meaningful. For God to be God, God must be made in my image and likeness, and agree with the journey I have chosen to take.

The deeper we enter into this morass of thinking, the more life becomes identified from the prospective of the world, and our memory of God fades more and more. But the wonderful thing is that not all is lost. As I saw with the people of the Atrium, it is not about what has been lost but rather what is retained. And we might not always realize just where our connection from God will arise. It may be a childhood memory. It may be some event or crisis that helps us realize the futility of the world and its ways, and in that moment something awakens within us to remind us of the God who truly loves us.

No matter how far we might stray from God, He will never abandon or forsake us. Our loving God will not leave us alone. We can never truly travel in any direction where He will not be with us. Rather, we can turn our back on God and never turn our face towards Him, but He is right there with us at all times. He simply waits for the moment that we remember our need for Him. And then, God reaches out to us and embraces us with his unconditional love.

In that moment we experience the power of the cross. Jesus’ life was determined by one statement “not my will but yours.” His love for the Father and for us creates the moment when sin and death truly lose their power. Through our baptism we are made whole and our lives come to be grounded in the Jesus’ death and resurrection. In the Eucharist we recall this moment and receive the grace that empowers us to follow Christ. In confession we are washed clean by his blood and restored to a life of grace centered in his saving action and will. The cross is what gives meaning to our life. The cross is what opens us to our true relationship with God. The cross is what allows us to die to ourselves and live the life we were created to live. The cross is what allows us to become the person we were created to be. The cross is what defines the life we are called to express in our words and actions. It is not a life centered in me, but rather, in the unconditional love of God. It no longer becomes about what I remember about God, but rather, what God remembers about me.

If you have any questions about anything, please do not hesitate to ask me directly, or send your questions to me at fr.brian@chelmsfordcatholic.org.

Please keep me in your prayers.

In Christ,

Fr. Brian

Previous Articles

January 12, 2020:  The day before Thanksgiving I went to confession and it was a great experience for me. The priest was Fr. Ray at Saint Margaret’s in Lowell. read full article...

January 5, 2020:  Today we celebrate the feast of the Epiphany. I love this celebration as we contemplate the coming of the wise men with their gifts. read full article...

December 29, 2019: The other day, when I walked into the rectory chapel, our seminarian Andrew John was sitting and praying. On his lap was my cat Harry, sprawled over his lap and purring away. read full article...

December 22, 2019: Less than a year after I was ordained my Mom set up a trip to Italy and invited me to join in. (Well, honestly, she set it up particularly for me.) One of the destinations on this tour was the city of Florence, read full article...

December 15, 2019: A few weeks ago, I was helping a friend of mine move from one parish to another and I stayed overnight at his new rectory. read full article...

December 8, 2019: As I am writing this, it is still snowing, though not heavily at this moment, but we have already been told that more, and heavier stuff, is coming. read full article...

December 1, 2019: One day while we were living in Watertown, in our three-bedroom apartment, my parents decided to go out for dinner. It was something that they rarely did
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November 24, 2019: When I was three years old, my family moved to a three-bedroom apartment in Watertown right on Route 20. It was a two-family home and we lived on the bottom floor  read full article...

November 17, 2019: The other day, on my day off, I went to confession at Saint Joseph’s Shrine in Lowell. I was dressed in sweats and sneakers. As I waited  read full article...

November 10, 2019: Last weekend, of course, was the end of Daylight Savings Time and we got that one extra hour of sleep. Well, that’s only true if you don’t have cats! read full article...

November 3, 2019: Over the last few weeks I have read and listened to many parishioners’ insights and concerns about the proposed changes to the Mass schedule   read full article...

October 27, 2019: The Halloween that I was in second grade, my brothers and I were outside wrestling... read full article

October 20, 2019: On Columbus Day, we went on our yearly hiking trip as a collaborative. We hiked up Mt. Chocorua and the views were simply stunning. read full article...

October 13, 2019: While going to school at Catholic University of America in Washington DC... read full article...

October 6, 2019: When I was in the eighth grade at Saint Michael Grammar School... read full article...

September 29, 2019: When giving my presentation last week, I told this story about my Mom.... read full article...

September 22, 2019: I remember, when I was sixteen years old, there was a shirt I wanted and so I asked my Mom to buy it for me. Her response was quick and quite simple, read full article...

September 15, 2019: I try to get to the gym at least four to five days a week... read full article...

September 8, 2019: My first assignment in the Air Force was at Lowry Air Force Base in 1991... read full article...

September 1, 2019: When I was a kid, Labor Day weekend was about two things: the last weekend of freedom from school and the Jerry Lewis Telethon... read full article...

August 25, 2019: I have no idea why, but the other day I started thinking about lines from the  beginning of an epic poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, called Evangeline, a tale of Acadia... read full article...

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August 11,2019: While using my iPad, a rather disturbing headline came onto my screen from my news feed. It read, “An unprecedented 24 hours: Two mass shootings leave at least 29 dead. There have been 251 mass shootings in the US in the last 216 days... read full article...

August 4, 2019: While I was on vacation, I saw two interesting quotes that got me thinking... read full article...

July 28, 2019: We know that Jesus underwent true suffering in many ways... read full article...

July 21, 2019: Last week’s column got me thinking that people might wonder how we Catholics understand the meaning of suffering?.... read full article...

July 14, 2019: A couple of weeks ago I was having a conversation with my brother Kevin, who was diagnosed with bladder cancer back in March. He had surgery in April right after Easter and now he is dealing with the follow-up treatment. read full article...

July 7, 2019: Believe it or not, on July 7, 1928, commercially sliced bread was sold for the first time in history by the Chillicothe Bakery Company in Chillicothe, MO... read full article...

June 30, 2019: This past week was somewhat unusual in the Church’s calendar... read full article...

June 23, 2019: I remember one particular year when my family went on vacation to New Brunswick... read full article...

June 16, 2019: My Dad has always been a fascinating man to me... read full article...

June 9, 2019: Last Saturday, I had 3 pm confessions at Saint John’s, and when I finished I went into the sacristy to get ready to celebrate Mass... read full article...

June 2, 2019: After celebrating the 7 am Mass at Saint Mary last Sunday, Joe came up to me and asked if I was okay... read full article...

May 26, 2019: As we celebrate Memorial Day weekend, we remember all those who so willing placed their lives on the line, to ensure that our way of life could continue... read full article...

May 19, 2019: My biggest struggle as pastor is probably very similar to that of most people... read full article...

May 12, 2019: Over the last few weeks I have been having some very similar conversations with women, and they revolve around the same issue, though in different variations... read full article...

May 5, 2019: When I was preparing to enter kindergarten, they did an assessment of my various academic abilities... read full article...

April 28, 2019: We all have those particular memories that stick with us, and we can usually give much of the details that occurred around a memorable event... read full article...

April 21, 2019: I remember the Easter when I was in seventh grade. We were preparing to go to Mass but we wanted to find our Easter baskets first... read full article...

April 14, 2019: As I was driving down Davis Road in Chelmsford, I saw someone feeding the horse and the cow...  read full article...

April 7, 2019: About a month ago, I received a call from Tom Moran who asked me to visit his brother Gerry at Sunny Acres Nursing Home...   read full article...

March 31, 2019: The other day as I was trying to pray, my cat Sally wanted me to pay attention to her...  read full article...

March 24, 2019: I am writing this column on the Feast of the Solemnity of Saint Joseph...  read full article...

March 17, 2019: Last October, Finn McMaster came to me and asked if it would be possible for the Collaborative to put on Godspell... read full article...

March 10, 2019: As I was getting ready to leave church last Sunday, I saw a mom with her young son at the door of the church getting ready to leave... read full article...

March 3, 2019: Last Sunday, we had our first presentation to the parents of our new faith formation program.  At the end of the presentation a little boy, named Jeremy Bryant, came up to talk to me.  He handed me some sheets of paper and said, “I wrote you a song.”  read full article...

February 24, 2019: Last weekend I gave a homily that was very difficult for me to preach. In fact, I argued with God about whether or not it was really necessary or appropriate...  read full article...

February 17, 2019: My friend, Fr. David Darcy, has been living in the rectory with us since October, recovering from open-heart surgery, but since January he has been well enough to get around on his own... read full article...

Feburary 10, 2019: As I write this column, it’s the day after the Super Bowl. Obviously it’s hard not to be thinking about what I watched during the game, and listened to after the game...  read full article...

February 3, 2019: January 22nd marked the forty-sixth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Roe v Wade decision.... read full article...

January 27, 2019: The other day I was back in my hometown to celebrate Mass: Fr. Ren was on vacation and needed help covering a Mass and so I agreed to do it... read full article...